cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
High-dose BEAM chemotherapy with autologous peripheral blood progenitor-cell transplantation for unselected patients with primary refractory or relapsed Hodgkin's disease

Summary Background The use of autologous peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) expedites hematologic recovery and reduces the costs of transplantation in comparison with autologous bone marrow; however, its efficacy in patients with Hodgkin's disease has been questioned. We evaluated the results of autologous PBPC transplantation in a population of unselected and uniformly treated patients with primary refractory or relapsed Hodgkin's disease. Patients and methods Forty consecutive adult patients with primary refractory (n = 7) or relapsed (n = 33) Hodgkin's disease received high-dose BEAM (BCNU, etoposide, ara-C, and melphalan) followed by autologous PBPC infusion. Twenty-four patients (60%) received high-dose BEAM as outpatients. Consolidative radiation therapy was administered to 14 patients (35%). Results Thirty-seven patients (92%) achieved a post transplant complete response. The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 69%, and the 3-year overall survival (OS) was 77%, with a median follow-up of surviving patients of 28 months. Severe non-hematologic toxicities included gastrointestinal side effects (diarrhea 17%, mucositis 25%), and interstitial pneumonitis (15%). One patient died of acute transplant-related complications (mortality rate 2.5%). Strong predictors of poor PFS were chemoresistant versus chemosensitive/ untested disease (actuarial PFS 89% versus 22%, P = 0.0000) and stage IIB-IV versus I-IIA at relapse/progression (86% versus 46%, P = 0.005). All five patients with elevated lactate dehydrogenase at the time of transplantation died of their disease. There was a trend toward worse PFS for patients receiving a higher number of CD34+ cells (≥ 11 × 106 per kg). Conclusions High-dose BEAM chemotherapy with autologous PBPC transplantation is associated with low mortality and results in satisfactory PFS for patients with primary refractory or relapsed Hodgkin's disease. The subset of patients with progressive disease at the time of transplantation performs poorly and may benefit from alternative strategies.
Cell surface sialic acid and the regulation of immune cell interactions: the neuraminidase effect reconsidered

It has been known for over a decade that sialidase (neuraminidase) treatment could substantially enhance the capacity of resting B cells to stimulate the proliferation of allogeneic and antigen specific, syngeneic T cells. Thus, cell-surface sialic acid was implicated as a potential modulator of immune cell interaction. However, little progress has been made in either identifying explicit roles for sialic acid in this system or in hypothesizing mechanisms to explain the "neuraminidase effect." Here we show for the first time that cell surface sialic acid on medium incubated B cells blocks access to costimulatory molecules on the B cell surface, and that this is the most likely explanation for the neuraminidase effect. Further, we show that it is likely to be upregulation of ICAM-1 and its subsequent engagement of LFA-1 rather than loss of cell surface sialic acid that in part regulates access to CD86 and other costimulatory molecules. However, we cannot exclude a role for CD86-bound sialic acid on the B cell in modulating binding to T cell CD28. Because sialidase treatment of resting B cells but not resting T cells enables T cell activation, we suggest that sialidase treatment may still be an analogue for an authentic step in B cell activation, and show that for highly activated B cells (activated with polyclonal anti-IgM plus INF-gamma) there is specific loss 2, 6-linked sialic acid. Potential roles for sialic acid in modulating B cell/T cell collaboration are discussed.
Acousto-optical wideband correlator system: design, implementation, and evaluation

We describe the design and development of an acousto-optical wideband correlator that we integrated into a digital signal-processing system testbed. We report its measured performance and compare it with various theoretical performance measures, one of which compares the optical system with an equivalent efficient digital correlator. The measured performance of the optical system was 20 to 70 times that of a VAX 6410 computer using a fast-Fourier-transform correlation algorithm and a vector processor, even though the electronic interface system limited the performance of the optical system to less than 0.5% of its potential. We also compare the system with commercially available digital signal-processing boards.
Void formation in irradiated copper, nickel and copper-nickel alloys

Abstract The formation of voids during neutron irradiation of pure nickel, pure copper and nickel-copper alloys has been studied. Part I concerns the fluence dependence of void parameters in pure copper and nickel irradiated at 285 °C and at very low fluences. The void swelling at these low fluences is not a linear function of the fluence, but varies approximately as (φt)2 in pure copper and (φt)2,7 in pure nickel. An attempt has been made to correlate the results with a homogeneous void nucleation theory. Part II concerns the void formation in copper-nickel alloys. In general, voids do not form in these alloys at least up to fluences of 2.4±1019 n/cm2. The lack of voids in the high copper alloys is explained by increased recombination of point defects. The lack of voids in the high nickel alloys is better explained by a vacancy trapping model.
Load dependence of cardiac output in biventricular pacing: left ventricular volume overload in pigs.

Objective Previous work from our laboratory has demonstrated that optimization of biventricular pacing is load dependent. Cardiac output was maximized with a ventricular-ventricular delay of +40 milliseconds (right ventricle–first pacing) during right ventricular pressure overload and with a ventricular-ventricular delay of −40 milliseconds (left ventricle–first pacing) during right ventricular volume overload. We hypothesized that a model of left ventricular volume overload would also have specific timing requirements during biventricular pacing for optimization of cardiac output. Methods After median sternotomy in 6 anesthetized pigs, complete heart block was induced by ethanol ablation. A conduit was grafted from the left ventricle to the left atrium to produce left ventricular volume overload. An ultrasonic flow probe was placed around the conduit to measure retrograde flow that averaged 50% of cardiac output. During epicardial atrial tracking DDD biventricular pacing, atrioventricular delay was varied between 60 and 270 milliseconds in 30-millisescond increments for 20-second intervals. After determination of optimum atrioventricular delay, ventricular-ventricular delay was varied in 20-millisecond increments from +80 to −80 milliseconds for 20-second intervals. Results Ventricular-ventricular delays had no significant effect on cardiac output with the graft clamped (control). With the graft unclamped, however, there was a statistically significant ( P = .0001 by repeated-measures analysis of variance) trend toward higher cardiac output with right ventricle–first pacing. Conclusions Right ventricle–first pacing in swine significantly increased cardiac output during acute left ventricular volume overload, but not during the control state. Understanding load-specific pacing requirements will facilitate the development of perioperative temporary biventricular pacing for acute heart failure.
Event sequences as generators of social network evolution

The argument presented in this paper is that one fruitful approach to the study of social network evolution takes the form of examining event sequences as generating mechanisms. Evidence for this comes from two empirical studies of structural balance theory and one simulation study of balance theoretic processes. Four views of causality—system, statistical (predictive), mechanism and algorithmic—are briefly contrasted and then examined with structural balance theory in mind. The conventional statement of the theory turns out to be under specified and inattentive to alternative mechanisms that can generate signed networks through time. Empirical studies of structural balance are limited with regard to the kinds of data that are usually collected. Proposals for studying the generation of signed networks through event sequences while being attentive to structural balance ideas are presented. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Backcasting for Sustainable Transportation Planning

Transportation problems are often sustainability problems and as such are complex, long-reaching, and difficult to address through incremental policies. Planning for these problems requires analyzing future conditions of the transportation system and the systems with which it interacts. Traditional futures studies using the forecasting method do not deal adequately with the uncertainty inherent in long-term studies of transportation problems. This paper reviews recent innovations in futures studies and their applications to planning studies for transportation system sustainability. The new methods, including scenario planning, backcasting (determining policy to meet future end point), and strategic sustainability assessment, involve both qualitative assessment and scientific models to create and analyze future states. In particular, the paper focuses on backcasting as an alternative to forecasting for scenario building and provides examples of how the method has been applied in the transportation sector. ...
Psychometric validation of the Multidimensional Acceptance of Loss Scale

Objective: To develop and field test the Multidimensional Acceptance of Loss Scale to measure disability acceptance based on the four value changes identified by Beatrice Wright.Design: Quantitative descriptive design using exploratory factor analysis to determine the factorial validity of the Multidimensional Acceptance of Loss Scale.Setting: The Canadian Paraplegic Association.Subjects: One hundred and sixty-one members of the Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Manitoba chapters of the Canadian Paraplegic Association were recruited for the current study.Results: A four-factor structure accounting for 50% of the total variance was found for the Multidimensional Acceptance of Loss Scale. The internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) for the four factors ranged from 0.80 to 0.88. Three clusters of participants with high, moderate and low disability acceptance were identified based on their profiles of Multidimensional Acceptance of Loss Scale subscale scores using cluster analysi...
MPS VAX monitor and control software architecture

The new Machine Protection System (MPS) now being tested at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) includes monitoring and controlling facilities integrated into the existing VAX control system. The actual machine protection is performed by VME micros which control the beam repetition rate on a pulse-by-pulse basis based on measurements from fault detectors. The VAX is used to control and configure the VME micros, configure custom CAMAC modules providing the fault detector inputs, monitor and report faults and system errors, update the SLC database, and interface with the user. The design goals of the VAX software include a database-driven system to allow configuration changes without code changes, use of a standard TCP/IP-based message service for communication, use of existing SLCNET micros for CAMAC configuration, security and verification features to prevent unauthorized access, error and alarm logging and display updates as quickly as possible, and use of touch panels and X-windows displays for the user interface. >
An integrated handoff solution for wireless ATM

This paper proposes an integrated solution to handoffs in wireless ATM networks. The proposed method has the following features: 1) combining soft handoff and hard handoff into one, 2) solving the crossed path problem due to both ends of a connection making handoffs at the same time, 3) minimizing overheads due to move back, and 4) minimizing QoS adaptation by load balancing. Previous studies cover at most one aspect of the proposed protocol. The crossed path problem arises when the crossover switch found by one end does not lie on the new path determined by the other end of the same connection. The proposed protocol minimizes handoff delay and cell delay. Simulation results show excellent scalability, adaptability, stability, and flexibility of the protocol. Performance analysis of the protocol is also provided.
"LIVING IN HELL":THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING STALKED

Stalking is a form of interpersonal victimization that can have profound effects on targeted individuals by necessitating unwanted life changes and instilling fear that may persist long after the stalking has stopped. This article reviews current literature on stalking, presents a case study of a woman who was stalked for 3 years by a near-stranger, and offers recommendations for nurses and other mental health clinicians who work with victims of stalking.
Transmission Tower Foundations

With the recent introduction of extra high voltage transmission on the order of 500 kv to 750 kv, the electrical power industry is experiencing a tremendous physical change. It is now possible to bring energy from power sources thousands of miles from a load center. This challenge of ingenuity has kindled an interest in these huge transmission projects and has focused attention on engineering design that goes into transmission lines in general. This paper deals with the knowledge and experience that form the basis for the design methods developed and used by the Southern California Edison Company for transmission tower foundations. Particular attention is given to the concrete belled cylindrical pile which, because of its economic advantage over other footing types, makes up the bulk of the tower foundations now being constructed. Also treated are several areas of design and construction for which a better understanding of the soil-structure interaction appears to offer some potential for the development of more economical tower foundation designs.
Lexical Chains on WordNet and Extensions

Lexical chains between two concepts are sequences of semantically related words interconnected via semantic relations. This paper presents a new approach for the automatic construction of lexical chains on knowledge bases. Experiments were performed building lexical chains on WordNet, Extended WordNet, and Extended WordNet Knowledge Base. The research addresses the problems of lexical chains ranking and labeling them with appropriate semantic names.
Methylseleninic Acid Superactivates p53-Senescence Cancer Progression Barrier in Prostate Lesions of Pten-Knockout Mouse

Monomethylated selenium (MM-Se) forms that are precursors of methylselenol, such as methylseleninic acid (MSeA), differ in metabolism and anticancer activities in preclinical cell and animal models from seleno-methionine that had failed to exert preventive efficacy against prostate cancer in North American men. Given that human prostate cancer arises from precancerous lesions such as high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-PIN), which frequently have lost phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) tumor suppressor permitting phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT) oncogenic signaling, we tested the efficacy of MSeA to inhibit HG-PIN progression in Pten prostate-specific knockout (KO) mice and assessed the mechanistic involvement of p53-mediated cellular senescence and of the androgen receptor (AR). We observed that short-term (4 weeks) oral MSeA treatment significantly increased expression of P53 and P21Cip1 proteins and senescence-associated-β-galactosidase staining, and reduced Ki67 cell proliferation index in Pten KO prostate epithelium. Long-term (25 weeks) MSeA administration significantly suppressed HG-PIN phenotype, tumor weight, and prevented emergence of invasive carcinoma in Pten KO mice. Mechanistically, the long-term MSeA treatment not only sustained P53-mediated senescence, but also markedly reduced AKT phosphorylation and AR abundance in the Pten KO prostate. Importantly, these cellular and molecular changes were not observed in the prostate of wild-type littermates which were similarly treated with MSeA. Because p53 signaling is likely to be intact in HG-PIN compared with advanced prostate cancer, the selective superactivation of p53-mediated senescence by MSeA suggests a new paradigm of cancer chemoprevention by strengthening a cancer progression barrier through induction of irreversible senescence with additional suppression of AR and AKT oncogenic signaling.
The Basics of Financial Derivatives

This note describes the basic elements and pricing of financial derivatives. Financial derivatives are contracts whose value is derived from the value of some other underlying asset, such as a share of common stock, a commodity (e.g., coffee, oil, or wheat), or a bond. Each derivative has its own special features and provisions, and each is used for a special financial purpose.
Electromyographic Studies of the Effects of Bodily Position and Anesthesia on the Activity of the Respiratory Muscles of the Domestic Cock

Abstract INTRODUCTION ACTIONS of the respiratory muscles in the bird have been deduced from anatomical descriptions (Sibson, 1846; Baer, 1896; Babak, 1921; Zimmer, 1935). However, electromyography, as a tool for the investigation of the action of these muscles, has only recently been utilized (Burkart and Bucher, 1961; Kadono et al., 1963). The following experiments were performed to provide more information concerning the physiology of the respiratory muscles of the bird. The specific inquiries include: correlation of integrated and direct action potential recordings of the electrical activity of the respiratory muscles; effect of anesthesia on the electrical activity of the respiratory muscles; effects of position on the electrical activity of the respiratory muscles; and correlation of the time of onset and time of cessation of the electrical activity and the vertical movement of the sternum. METHODS Single Comb White Leghorn cocks, 16 to 20 weeks of age, which had been reared under…
Retaining experts: administrators' views on retention incentives and older employees.

A survey of members of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) in 2012 examined laboratory administrators9 views on retention incentives and older Clinical Laboratory Professionals (CLP). Results indicated that retention strategies currently in place are not concordant with the ones CLP think are important. Further, with the exception of ergonomic equipment, administrators reported low feasibility for the workplace changes favored by practitioners. While all administrators attributed positive traits to older CLP, older administrators held more favorable views. Administrators perceived older CLP as productive, having a high level of technical skills and loyal. The combination of technical competence and work ethic make retention of older CLP attractive to laboratory administrators and advantageous for combatting workforce shortages. This study highlights the discordance between the retention incentives valued by CLP and those viewed as feasible by administrators. Findings should be used by administrators to refine incentive packages that better reflect the desires of CLP. ABBREVIATIONS:CLP - Clinical Laboratory Professionals, ASCLS - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, MLT - Medical Laboratory Technician, MLS - Medical Laboratory Scientist
Peromyscus as a model system for understanding the regulation of maternal behavior

The genus Peromyscus has been used as a model system for understanding maternal behavior because of the diversity of reproductive strategies within this genus. This review will describe the ecological factors that determine litter size and litter quality in polygynous species such as Peromyscus leucopus and Peromyscus maniculatus. We will also outline the physiological and social factors regulating maternal care in Peromyscus californicus, a monogamous and biparental species. Because biparental care is relatively rare in mammals, most research in P. californicus has focused on understanding the biology of paternal care while less research has focused on understanding maternal care. As a result, the social, sensory, and hormonal cues used to coordinate parental care between male and female P. californicus have been relatively well-studied. However, less is known about the physiology of maternal care in P. californicus and in other Peromyscus species. The diversity of the genus Peromyscus provides the potential for future research to continue to examine how variation in social systems has shaped the mechanisms that underlie maternal care.
Assessing Symptom Burden in Bladder Cancer: An Overview of Bladder Cancer Specific Health-Related Quality of Life Instruments

Background: A key component to monitoring and investigating patient QOL is through patient reported health related quality of life (HRQOL) outcome measures. Many instruments have been used to assess HRQOL in bladder cancer and each instrument varies in its development, validation, the context of its usage in the literature and its applicability to certain disease states. Objective: In this review, we sought to summarize how clinicians and researchers should most appropriately utilize the available HRQOL instruments for bladder cancer. Methods: We performed a comprehensive literature search of each instrument used in bladder cancer, paying particular attention to the outcomes assessed. We used these outcomes to group the available instruments into categories best reflecting their optimal usage by stage of disease. Results: We found 5 instruments specific to bladder cancer, of which 3 are validated. Only one of the instruments (the EORTC-QLQ-NMIBC24) was involved in a randomized, prospective validation study. The most heavily used instruments are the EORTC-QLQ-BLM30 for muscle-invasive disease and the FACT-Bl which is used across all disease states. Of the 5 available instruments, 4 are automatically administered with general instruments, while the BCI lacks modularity, and requires co-administration with a generalized instrument. Conclusion: There are multiple strong instruments for use in gauging HRQOL in bladder cancer patients. We have divided these instruments into three categories which optimize their usage: instruments for use following NMIBC treatments (EORTC-QLQ-NMIBC24), instruments for use following radical cystectomy (FACT-Bl-Cys and EORTC-QLQ-BLM30) and more inclusive instruments not limited by treatment modality (BCI and FACT-Bl).
The Implications of Floating Point for FPGAs

Publisher Summary This chapter introduces the IEEE floating-point standard and discusses implementations of compliant floating-point units for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). It provides the case studies of three floating-point application kernels and their implementation on FPGAs. Implementing floating-point arithmetic on FPGAs requires significant effort. Supporting the IEEE-754 standard poses particularly unique challenges, but much of the effort is expended in coping with the interaction between exponent logic and mantissa logic. Great care is required to minimize the latency through the unit without significantly decreasing clock rate by having two dependent carry chains in a single pipeline stage. Increased operation latency leads to a need to find more parallelism to exploit in paths with the cyclic data dependencies typical of iterative solutions. Simultaneously, the increased size of a single operation reduces the portion of a given dataflow graph that can be implemented directly and pushes a designer toward more iterative solutions. The dot product is an excellent example because it is forced to reuse adders to compute a summation that would typically be done as a tree of adders in a fixed-point solution. The result is that only longer vectors make sense. Even simple feed forward paths incur a penalty from the high latency of the floating-point units. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) provides an example whereby the latency of a single butterfly path can approach the length of a short vector. Thus, if the FFT implementation in an FPGA is not used for a long FFT or a series of short FFTs, it cannot offer competitive performance.
What Is the Best Way to Screen Cirrhotic Patients for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the United States

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) continues to be a significant cause of mortality in the United States. However, HCC is curable if detected early in its course. Cirrhosis is a well-established risk factor for HCC, but direct evidence demonstrating the benefit of screening for HCC in this population remains under contention today. Ultrasound (US) every 6 months is currently the proposed screening methodology. Serum alpha-feto protein (AFP) has been dropped from screening guidelines, yet recent prospective data reported an added efficacy with the combination of serum AFP and US. Technological advances in cross-sectional imaging have dramatically impacted the field of hepatobiliary imaging, making them attractive alternatives for HCC screening in selected populations. While computed tomography (CT) does not appear to confer any significant advantage to US performed by trained personnel, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with hepatobiliary phase (HBP) and diffuse weighted imaging (DWI) offers the best sensitivity and specificity for HCC largely due to its superiority in detecting and characterizing lesions <2 cm. Its cost-effectiveness as a screening tool, however, remains to be seen.
Dynamics of a temperate deciduous forest under landscape-scale management: Implications for adaptability to climate change

Landscape forest management is an approach to meeting diverse objectives that collectively span multiple spatial scales. It is critical that we understand the long-term effects of landscape management on the structure and composition of forest tree communities to ensure that these practices are sustainable. Furthermore, it is increasingly important to also consider effects of our management within the context of anticipated environmental changes, especially future climate. This study investigated two decades of tree community dynamics within a long-term, landscape-scale management experiment located in a temperate deciduous forest in southeastern Missouri, USA. This experiment tests three alternative landscape management systems: even-aged management (EAM), uneven-aged management (UAM), and no-harvest management (NHM). Specifically, we evaluated effects of landscape management alternatives on: (1) structural and compositional dynamics of the tree communities and (2) adaptability of the tree communities to projected climate change. Changes in the abundance of dominant species under these landscape management systems suggested a prevailing successional trend on these relatively xeric, oak-dominated landscapes. In the overstory layer, there was a decrease in the abundance of red oak species (Section Lobatae), mainly black oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) and scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea Muenchh.), and an increase in white oak (Quercus alba L.) suggesting a shift to white oak dominance is underway. In the midstory and understory layers, flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.) abundance declined substantially, while maples (Acer spp. L.) and several minor species increased. Declines in shortleaf pine populations indicated that regeneration harvesting is not regenerating this species. Experiment-wide changes in tree community composition suggest that adaptability to projected future climate may have increased over the first two decades of the MOFEP experiment under all management systems and that diverse management objectives can be realized through active management, including adaptation to climate change. However, future research is needed to test this working hypothesis and to more fully evaluate the impacts of silviculture treatments within the context of projected climate.
Grateful experiences and expressions: the role of gratitude expressions in the link between gratitude experiences and well-being

ABSTRACTResearch shows a consistent connection between the experience of gratitude and a variety of positive psychological, physical, and relational outcomes. Although this connection is largely traceable to the social meanings inherent to the experience and expression of gratitude, little is known about how such meanings are constructed via the process of communicating gratitude. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge on gratitude experience and expression, and examine the connection between gratitude expression and human well-being. We also propose a topography of gratitude expressions and review several issues that research on the communication of gratitude should consider in future research.
Performance Analysis of Applications in the Context of Architectural Rooflines

Intuitive visual representations of architecture capabilities and the performance of applications are critical to enabling effective performance analysis, which in turn guides optimizations. The Roofline Model and its derivatives provide such an intuitive representation of the best achievable performance on a given architecture. The Roofline Toolkit project is a collaboration among researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Oregon and consists of three principal components: hardware characterization, software characterization, and data manipulation, which includes a visualization interface. These components address the different aspects of performance data acquisition and manipulation required for performance analysis, modeling and optimization of applications. In this paper we introduce an implementation of the third component, a system for visualizing roofline charts and managing roofline performance analysis data. We demonstrate analysis of an application use case within this framework and outline future directions for this type of performance analysis and visualization.
Marfan syndrome and quality of life in the GenTAC registry

Abstract Background Previous small studies suggested reduced quality of life (QOL) for people with Marfan syndrome (MFS) compared with those without MFS. The national registry of GenTAC (Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms and Cardiovascular Conditions) is a longitudinal observational cohort study of patients with conditions that predispose to thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections, including MFS. At the time of registry enrollment, GenTAC study participants are asked to complete questionnaires about demographics, medical history, health habits, and QOL. Objectives This study assessed QOL in GenTAC participants with MFS and identify associated factors using self-reported data. Methods QOL was assessed using the 4 subscales of the Physical Component Summary (PCS) of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36): physical functioning; role limitations due to physical health; bodily pain; and general health. We studied the association of QOL with self-reported demographics, health behaviors, physical impairments, surgeries, comorbid medical conditions, medications, and MFS severity. Results In the GenTAC registry, 389 adults with MFS completed the SF-36. Mean age was 41 years, 51% were men, 92% were white, and 65% were college graduates. The mean PCS composite score was 42.3. In bivariate analysis, predictors of better QOL included college education, marital status, higher household income, private health insurance, full-time employment, moderate alcohol use, fewer prior surgeries, fewer comorbid conditions, absence of depression, and less severe MFS manifestations. In a multivariable analysis, insurance status and employment remained significant predictors of QOL. Conclusions In a large cohort of patients with MFS in the GenTAC registry, health-related QOL was below the population norm. Better QOL was independently associated with socioeconomic factors, not factors related to general health or MFS severity.
Innovative approaches to support smoking cessation for individuals with mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in the US, accounting for over 520,000 deaths annually. While the smoking prevalence has declined over the past 50 years, those with mental illness and addictive disorders continue to smoke at high levels and with significant tobacco-related health problems.Areas covered: This review highlights the epidemiology, contributing factors, and evidence-base for intervening upon tobacco use in those with mental illness and addictive disorders. Historically underprioritized, a growing body of literature supports treating tobacco within mental health and addiction treatment settings. Critically, treating tobacco use appears to support, and not harm, mental health recovery and sobriety. This review also summarizes novel, emerging approaches to mitigate the harms of cigarette smoking.Expert commentary: People with mental illness and addictive disorders have a high prevalence of tobacco use with serious health harms. Treating tobacco use is ...
Gender Differences in Patterns of School Victimization and Problem Behaviors During Middle School and Their Relation to High School Graduation

Victimization and problem behaviors during middle school detrimentally influence student learning. However, less is known about how they may cooccur and collectively affect high school graduation and whether the interrelationships vary by gender. Using data from a nationally representative cohort of seventh-grade students from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997; N = 1,009), latent class analyses identified three groups among boys and two among girls. Results indicated that 50% of boys in the high-risk group (high victimization and problem behaviors) did not graduate from high school on time. Furthermore, boys in the moderate-risk group (high victimization, low problem behaviors) graduated from high school on time at a rate comparable with the low-risk boys. Two groups emerged for girls (i.e., low vs. high risk) in which each corresponds to graduation in an expected direction. Findings from this study underscore the importance of gender differences in intervention efforts, especially during mi...
Symptom Attributions Across the Menstrual Cycle in Women with Panic Disorder

Women with panic disorder are likely to experience greater menstrual-specific symptoms (e.g., headaches, cramps) as well as more panic/anxiety-related symptoms (e.g., dizziness, faintness, chest pain, heart pounding), and may be more likely to experience these symptoms during the premenstrual phase. This study examines the attributions women make about the somatic and affective symptoms they experience during the menstrual cycle. Using a 30-day prospective design, women with and without panic disorder monitored physical and affective symptoms. Participants reported on severity of various symptoms and a primary cause for each symptom (menstrual cycle-related, panic/anxiety related, stress-related, health-related). Women with panic disorder reported more panic attacks during the premenstrual phase compared to other cycle phases. They also reported more severe affective and panic symptoms during the premenstrual phase compared to other phases, but did not significantly differ from the comparison group in menstrual symptom severity across the three cycle phases. Although women with panic disorder attributed more panic/anxiety-related causes for their symptoms across the menstrual cycle, they were able to discriminate between panic/anxiety causes and menstrual cycle-related causes. Women with panic disorder may benefit for therapy that focuses on their exacerbation of panic symptoms during the premenstrual phase.
Mechanically-Loaded Breast Cancer Cells Modify Osteocyte Mechanosensitivity by Secreting Factors That Increase Osteocyte Dendrite Formation and Downstream Resorption

Advanced breast cancer predominantly metastasizes to the skeleton, at which point patient prognosis significantly declines concomitant with bone loss, pain, and heightened fracture risk. Given the skeleton's sensitivity to mechanical signals, increased mechanical loading is well-documented to increase bone mass, and it also inhibited bone metastatic tumor formation and progression in vivo, though the underlying mechanisms remain under investigation. Here, we focus on the role of the osteocyte because it is the primary skeletal mechanosensor and in turn directs the remodeling balance between formation and resoprtion. In particular, osteocytic dendrites are important for mechanosensing, but how this function is altered during bone metastatic breast cancer is unknown. To examine how breast cancer cells modulate dendrite formation and function, we exposed osteocytes (MLO-Y4) to medium conditioned by breast cancer cells (MDA-MB231) and to applied fluid flow (2 h per day for 3 days, shear stress 1.1 Pa). When loading was applied to MLOs, dendrite formation increased despite the presence of tumor-derived factors while overall MLO cell number was reduced. We then exposed MLOs to fluid flow as well as media conditioned by MDAs that had been similarly loaded. When nonloaded MLOs were treated with conditioned media from loaded MDAs, their dendrite formation increased in a manner similar to that observed due to loading alone. When MLOs simultaneously underwent loading and treatment with loaded conditioned media, dendrite formation was greatest. To understand potential molecular mechanisms, we then investigated expression of genes related to osteocyte maturation and dendrite formation (E11) and remodeling (RANKL, OPG) as well as osteocyte apoptosis. E11 expression increased with loading, consistent with increased dendrite formation. Though loaded conditioned media decreased MLO cell number, apoptosis was not detected via TUNEL staining, suggesting an inhibition of growth instead. OPG expression was inhibited while RANKL expression was unaffected, leading to an overall increase in the RANKL/OPG ratio with conditioned media from loaded breast cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggest that skeletal mechanical loading stimulates breast cancer cells to alter osteocyte mechanosensing by increasing dendrite formation and downstream resorption.
Enzymatic Debridement of Chronic Nonischemic Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Debridement is an essential part of chronic wound management. Various methods of debridement include sharp surgical (using a scalpel, scissors, curette, or other sharp instruments), mechanical (e.g., wet to dry or wet to moist gauze), biologic (i.e., maggots), high-pressure streams of water, autolytic, and enzymatic. Enzymatic debridement using clostridial collagenase ointment (CCO) offers several advantages over less selective methods including sparing normal healthy tissue and continuous rather than episodic debridement activity. Several studies in chronic nonischemic diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) have shown that CCO is at least equal to other methods of debridement in clearance of nonviable tissue and achieving a clean, granulated wound bed but is consistently better in terms of reducing ulcer size during the initial 4–6 weeks of use. Laboratory and clinical data also suggest that CCO promotes healing through stimulation of cellular migration and proliferation, angiogenesis, and modulation of the inflammatory status of DFU. Limited clinical data also indicate that the incidence of infection for DFU treated with CCO is no worse than for those treated with silver products and better than for those treated with non-active hydrogel dressings.
CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS ON EXTRATERRITORIAL STATE POWER: STATE REGULATION, CHOICE OF LAW, AND SLAVERY

Modern legal scholarship has been highly critical of the Supreme Court’s precedent governing when a state may apply its law to conduct that occurs beyond its borders. Under this precedent, while a state court has broad discretion to apply forum law through its choice of law analysis, a state legislature may not pass legislation which regulates wholly extraterritorial conduct. Courts and scholars have long argued that the prohibition on extraterritorial legislation should be abandoned and that, under principles of federalism, stricter constitutional limitations should be placed on a state’s choice of law. Moreover, scholars have argued that these doctrines are inconsistent because there is no meaningful distinction between action by a state’s courts and its legislature. This Article responds to such criticism by arguing that the Court’s doctrines are fully consistent with the treatment of extraterritorial state power under the antebellum Constitution. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, the most important legal, political, and social issue of the day — the subject of slavery — provoked one of the country’s first and most contentious disputes over the extraterritorial application of state law. When arguing for the rejection of southern law, northerners asserted that any forced application of the law of slavery would infringe on fundamental aspects of the sovereignty of the northern states. In response, southerners contended that, under implicit principles of federalism which commanded that southern law to be treated on equal terms, northern states were constitutionally required to apply southern law when ordinary choice of law rules so dictated. Facing this conflict between principles of state sovereignty and state equality, northern courts followed traditional legal doctrine by holding that state sovereignty must prevail. An appreciation of the importance of state sovereignty to the antebellum constitution helps to make sense of the Court’s modern extraterritoriality doctrines. If state sovereignty is viewed as a fundamental tenant of federalism, any limitations on a state’s ability to apply its own law should come only from the Due Process concerns of individual litigants. A robust view of state sovereignty also fully supports the Court’s prohibition on extraterritorial legislation, despite recent judicial criticism of the doctrine. Finally, because forcing a state court to apply and enforce the law of another sovereign has very different implications for state sovereignty than a rule prohibiting a state legislature from regulating conduct in another state, state sovereignty provides a potential way to reconcile the modern Court’s differing treatment of state courts and state legislatures.
Draft Genome Sequence of the Nitrogen-Fixing Endophyte Azoarcus communis SWub3

Here we report a draft genome sequence of Azoarcus communis SWub3, a nitrogen-fixing bacterium isolated from root tissues of Kallar grass in Pakistan.
Association Between Endoscopist Personality and Rate of Adenoma Detection

Background & Aims There is significant variation among endoscopists in their adenoma detection rates (ADRs). We explored associations between ADR and characteristics of endoscopists, including personality traits and financial incentives. Methods We collected electronic health record data from October 2013 through September 2015 and calculated ADRs for physicians from 4 health systems. ADRs were risk-adjusted for differences in patient populations. Physicians were surveyed to assess financial motivations, knowledge and perceptions about colonoscopy quality, and personality traits. Of 140 physicians sent the survey, 117 responded. Results The median risk-adjusted ADR for all surveyed physicians was 29.3% (interquartile range, 24.1%–35.5%). We found no significant association between ADR and financial incentives, malpractice concerns, or physicians’ perceptions of ADR as a quality metric. ADR was associated with the degree of self-reported compulsiveness relative to peers: among endoscopists who described themselves as much more compulsive, the ADR was 33.1%; among those who described themselves as somewhat more compulsive, the ADR was 32.9%; among those who described themselves as about the same as others, the ADR was 26.4%; and among those who described themselves as somewhat less compulsive, the ADR was 27.3%) (P = .0019). ADR was also associated with perceived thoroughness (much more thorough than peers, ADR = 31.5%; somewhat more, 31.9%; same/somewhat less, 27.1%; P = .0173). Physicians who reported feeling rushed, having difficulty pacing themselves, or having difficulty in accomplishing goals had higher ADRs. A secondary analysis found the same associations between personality and adenomas per colonoscopy. Conclusions We found no significant association between ADR and financial incentives, malpractice concerns, or perceptions of ADR as a quality metric. However, ADRs were higher among physicians who described themselves as more compulsive or thorough, and among those who reported feeling rushed or having difficulty accomplishing goals.
Fate mapping during regeneration: Cells that undergo compensatory proliferation in damaged Drosophila eye imaginal discs differentiate into multiple retinal accessory cell types

Regeneration of tissues that have been damaged by cell loss requires new growth, often via proliferation of precursor cells followed by differentiation to replace loss of specific cell types. When regeneration occurs after normal differentiation of the tissue is complete, developmental pathways driving differentiation must be re-activated. How proliferation and differentiation are induced and balanced during regeneration is not well understood. To investigate these processes, we utilized a paradigm for tissue damage and regeneration in the developing Drosophila melanogaster eye. Previous studies have demonstrated that tissue damage resulting from extensive cell death stimulates quiescent, undifferentiated cells in the developing larval eye to re-enter the cell cycle and proliferate. Whether these cells are restricted to certain fates or can contribute to all retinal cell types and thus potentially be fully regenerative is not known. Here we found by fate mapping experiments that these cells are competent to differentiate into all accessory cell types in the retina but do not differentiate into photoreceptors, likely because cell cycle re-entry in response to damage occurs after photoreceptor differentiation has completed. We conclude that the ability to re-enter the cell cycle in response to tissue damage in the developing Drosophila eye is not restricted to precursors of a specific cell type and that cell cycle re-entry following damage does not disrupt developmental programs that control differentiation.
Reliable Architecture-Oblivious Error Detection Schemes for Secure Cryptographic GCM Structures

To augment the confidentiality property provided by block ciphers with authentication, the Galois Counter Mode (GCM) has been standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The GCM is used as an add-on to 128-bit block ciphers, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), SMS4, or Camellia, to verify the integrity of data. Prior works on the error detection of the GCM either use linear codes to protect the GCM architectures or are based on AES–GCM architectures, confining the mechanisms to the AES block cipher. Although such structures are efficient, they are not only confined to specific architectures of the GCM but might also not fully take advantage of the parallel architectures of the GCM. Moreover, linear codes have been shown to be potentially ineffective with respect to biased faults. In this paper, we propose algorithm-oblivious constructions through recomputing with swapped ciphertext and additional authenticated blocks, which can be applied to the GCM architectures using different finite field multipliers in $GF(2^{128})$ . Such obliviousness for the proposed constructions used in the GCM gives freedom to the designers. We present the results of error simulations and application-specific integrated circuit implementations to demonstrate the utility of the presented schemes. Based on the overhead/degradation tolerance for implementation/performance metrics, one can fine-tune the proposed method to achieve more reliable architectures for the GCM.