cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Third World Militarization: Security Webs and the States They Ensnare

This study statistically examines the causes of variance in military expenditures as a percentage of Gross National Product for 63 Third World states from 1969-1978 using a pooled time-series analysis. A country's immediate external environment (its security web), its political process, and its degree of incorporation into and dependence on the world economy are analyzed as to their effect on its defense burden. The findings provide strong statistical evidence that a Third World country's immediate external environment has a significant impact on that country's military burden, thereby suggesting that a subsystemic level of analysis is needed in studying state military allocations.
Autologous mesenchymal stem cells produce reverse remodelling in chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy

Aims The ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to heal the chronically injured heart remains controversial. Here we tested the hypothesis that autologous MSCs can be safely injected into a chronic myocardial infarct scar, reduce its size, and improve ventricular function. Methods and results Female adult Gottingen swine ( n = 15) underwent left anterior descending coronary artery balloon occlusion to create reproducible ischaemia–reperfusion infarctions. Bone-marrow-derived MSCs were isolated and expanded from each animal. Twelve weeks post-myocardial infarction (MI), animals were randomized to receive surgical injection of either phosphate buffered saline (placebo, n = 6), 20 million (low dose, n = 3), or 200 million (high dose, n = 6) autologous MSCs in the infarct and border zone. Injections were administered to the beating heart via left anterior thoracotomy. Serial cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed to evaluate infarct size, myocardial blood flow (MBF), and left ventricular (LV) function. There was no difference in mortality, post-injection arrhythmias, cardiac enzyme release, or systemic inflammatory markers between groups. Whereas MI size remained constant in placebo and exhibited a trend towards reduction in low dose, high-dose MSC therapy reduced infarct size from 18.2 ± 0.9 to 14.4 ± 1.0% ( P = 0.02) of LV mass. In addition, both low and high-dose treatments increased regional contractility and MBF in both infarct and border zones. Ectopic tissue formation was not observed with MSCs. Conclusion Together these data demonstrate that autologous MSCs can be safely delivered in an adult heart failure model, producing substantial structural and functional reverse remodelling. These findings demonstrate the safety and efficacy of autologous MSC therapy and support clinical trials of MSC therapy in patients with chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy.
Stimulation of Gastric Acid Secretion Causes Actin Filament Formation and Development of the Secretory Surface in Frog Oxynticopeptic Cells

Gastric acid secretion is a complicated process that does not occur without dramatic structural changes in parietal cells including the formation of actin-containing microvilli within elaborate intracellular canaliculi after stimulation (2, 6). The morphology of inhibited and stimulated parietal cells is well known (6). However, little is known about the structural changes that occur in parietal cells as inhibited cells transform into stimulated cells.
Modeling adoptability of secure BGP protocol

Despite the existence of several secure BGP routing protocols, there has been little progress to date on actual adoption. Although feasibility for widespread adoption remains the greatest hurdle for BGP security, there has been little quantitative research into what properties contribute the most to the adoptability of a security scheme. In this paper, we provide a model for assessing the adoptability of a secure BGP routing protocol. We perform this evaluation by simulating incentives compatible adoption decisions of ISPs on the Internet under a variety of assumptions. Our results include: (a) the existence of a sharp threshold, where, if the cost of adoption is below the threshold, complete adoption takes place, while almost no adoption takes place above the threshold; (b) under a strong attacker model, adding a single hop of path authentication to origin authentication yields similar adoptability characteristics as a full path security scheme; (c) under a weaker attacker model, adding full path authentication (e.g., via S-BGP [9]) significantly improves the adoptability of BGP security over weaker path security schemes such as soBGP [16]. These results provide insight into the development of more adoptable secure BGP protocols and demonstrate the importance of studying adoptability of protocols.
Controllability of formations over directed graphs

In this paper, we investigate the controllability of a class of formation control systems. Given a directed graph, we assign an agent to each of its vertices and let the edges of the graph describe the information flow in the system. We relate the strongly connected components of this graph to the reachable set of the formation control system. Moreover, we show that the formation control model is approximately path-controllable over a path-connected, open dense subset as long as the graph is weakly connected and satisfies some mild assumption on the numbers of vertices of the strongly connected components.
Deterrence masks superpower hegemony

Accepted as a given of the nuclear weapons race for many years, the concept of deterrence is now being increasingly called into question. Among the factors contributing to this questioning are the renewed discussion of anti-ballistic missile defenses; the development of very accurate, low-yield warheads; and the various concerns of non-nuclear weapons countries. With the following two articles, and others in future issues, the Bulletin will present different perspectives on deterrence. Here, Indian diplomat Muchkund Dubey expresses the concern of non-aligned nations that the arms race is both dangerous in itself and serves as a means of superpower dominance of much of the rest of the world. Then, Raymond Perkins contends that philosophical and ethical arguments can make the best case against deterrence theory.—The Editors
Influence of Peppermint Phenolics and Monoterpenes on Twospotted Spider Mite (Acari: Tetranychidae)

We examined Tetranychus urticae (Koch) fecundity and development on three peppermint, Mentha piperita L., leaf age classes which differed significantly ( P < 0.05) in total phenolic and monoterpene content. Young, expanding lateral leaves had the highest monoterpene and phenolic content. Mature top mainstem leaves had the lowest phenolic content, and old bottom mainstem leaves had the lowest monoterpene content. As leaf phenolic content increased, the number of eggs laid per leaf significantly decreased ( P < 0.001), and dispersal of immature mites, measured as percent caught in sticky Tack- Trap cages, significantly increased ( P < 0.001). Development times of immatures on young lateral leaves were significantly longer ( P < 0.05) than on the more mature mainstem leaves. Increased activity of T. urticae may have resulted in reduced feeding rates, which may in turn have accounted for the lower number of eggs laid and the increased development time of immatures on peppermint leaves with high phenolic content. The monoterpene content of leaves was not significantly correlated with spider mite biology, perhaps because monoterpenes are sequestered in plant cells not fed on by spider mites. However, vapors from 5% solutions of menthol and pulegone significantly reduced oviposition and increased mortality of female mites confined in unventilated petri dishes ( P < 0.05).
Hyper-Realistic, Team-Centered Fleet Surgical Team Training Provides Sustained Improvements in Performance

Objective The high-stress, fast-paced environment of combat casualty care relies on effective teamwork and communication which translates into quality patient care. A training course was developed for U.S. Navy Fleet Surgical Teams to address these aspects of patient care by emphasizing efficiency and appropriate patient care. An effective training course provides knowledge and skills to pass the course evaluation and sustain the knowledge and skills acquired over time. Design The course included classroom didactic hours, and hands-on simulation sessions. A pretest was administered before the course, a posttest upon completion, and a sustainment test 5 months following course completion. The evaluation process measured changes in patient time to disposition and critical errors made during patient care. Setting Naval Base San Diego, with resuscitation and surgical simulations carried out within the shipboard medical spaces. Participants United States Navy medical personnel including physicians of various specialties, corpsmen, nurses, and nurse anesthetists deploying aboard ships. Results Time to disposition improved significantly, 11 ± 3 minutes, from pretest to posttest, and critical errors improved by 4 ± 1 errors per encounter. From posttest to sustainment test, time to disposition increased by 3 ± 1, and critical errors decreased by 1 ± 1. Conclusions This course showed value in improving teamwork and communication skills of participants, immediately upon completion of the course, and after 5 months had passed. Therefore, with ongoing sustainment activities within 6 months, this course can substantially improve trauma care provided by shipboard deployed Navy medical personnel to wounded service members.
Efficiency of Different Classes of Flame Retardants for Epoxy Resins Designed for Coating Applications

The aim of this work is to study the efficiency of different classes of flame retardants for epoxy resins designed for coating applications.The thermal stability and fire retardant properties of the amine(JeffamineT403) cured epoxy resin,diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A,have been studied using thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) under nitrogen atmosphere and cone calorimetry.In this study,an extensive series of flame retarded epoxy resins were prepared with commercially available flame retardant additives,including halogens,phosphorus,minerals,melamine derivative and intumescent additives.The range of flame retardant materials used in epoxy formulations of commercial interest was investigated.The amount of FR additives is maintained at 15 %(except mineral fillers 30 %,mass fraction) to avoid impairment of the mechanical properties of epoxy resin.
Transient RNAi Assay in 96-Well Plate Format Facilitates High-Throughput Gene Function Studies in Planta

Here we describe a rapid high-throughput method for performing RNA interference (RNAi) in moss, in which phenotyping is performed within 1 week after transformation. The moss Physcomitrella patens is a great plant model system for reverse genetic studies due to its amenability to homologous recombination as well as RNAi. Our lab has developed a rapid RNAi assay to screen for growth phenotypes in moss protonemal tissue. Here we describe how we have recently further facilitated this assay by modifying the PEG-mediated transformation protocol allowing for transformations to be carried out in a semiautomated fashion in a 96-well plate format.
T-sleep: an improved method for scoring breathing-disordered sleep.

We developed a new method to score sleep fragmented by respiratory events that we call the T-sleep (transitional sleep scoring) method. Five control polysomnograms from subjects without sleep-related breathing abnormalities were scored by the Rechtschaffen and Kales (RK p = 0.0002). The T-sleep method was shown to be an effective, accurate and quick method for scoring sleep in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders.
Mitigating noise in global manifold coordinates for hyperspectral image classification

Over the past decade, manifold and graph representations of hyperspectral imagery (HSI) have been explored widely in HSI applications. Among many data-driven approaches to deriving manifold coordinate representations including Isometric Mapping (ISOMAP), Local Linear Embedding (LLE), Laplacian Eigenmaps (LE), and Diffusion Kernels (DK), ISOMAP is the only global method that well represents the large scale nonlinear geometric structure of the data. In recent years, methods such as ENH-ISOMAP as well as its parallel computing accelerations makes ISOMAP practical for hyperspectral image dimensionality reduction. However, the noise problem in these methods has not been well addressed, which is critical to classification accuracy based on the manifold coordinates derived from these methods. While standard linear techniques to reduce the effects of noise can be applied as a preliminary step, these are based on global statistics and are applied globally across the entire data set, resulting in the risk of losing subtle nonlinear features before classification. To solve this problem, in this paper, we explore several approaches to modeling and mitigating noise in HSI in a local sense to improve the performance of the ENH-ISOMAP algorithm, aiming to reduce the noise effect on the manifold representations of the HSI. A new method to split data into local spectral subsets is introduced. Based on the local spectral subsets obtained with this method, a local noise model guided landmark selection scheme is proposed. In addition, a new robust adaptive neighborhood method using intrinsic dimensionality information to construct the k-Nearest Neighbor graph is introduced to increase the fidelity of the graph, based on the same framework of local spectral subsetting. The improved algorithm produces manifold coordinates with less noise, and shows a better classification accuracy using k-Nearest Neighbor classifier.
A novel dual-LED based long-path DOAS instrument for the measurement of aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract Aromatic hydrocarbons are well known air toxics which are regulated by the US EPA and other air quality agencies. Accurate, long-term monitoring of these compounds at low part-per-billion levels, as well as identifying emission point sources is therefore crucial to protect human health in neighborhoods near large emission sources. Here we present a new long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) instrument specifically designed to monitor aromatic hydrocarbons. The system is based on a novel dual - light emitting diode (LED) light source, which eliminates the requirement to suppress spectrometer stray light. This light source, together with a high stability fiber-based sending/receiving telescope, allows the measurement of aromatic hydrocarbons on once-folded absorptions paths of 200–1200 m length. The new instrument shows very good agreement with simultaneous in-situ measurements if inhomogeneities of the trace gas spatial distributions are considered. The new instrument performed well during a three-month field test as an automated fence-line monitor at a refinery, successfully distinguishing upwind background levels of ∼1 ppb from emissions reflected in elevated mixing ratios of 3–4 ppb. A two-dimensional measurement network based on two identical LP-DOAS instruments operating on seven crossed light paths was operated successfully in Houston, TX. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of two events with toluene and xylene plumes demonstrate how this setup can be used to derive the spatial distribution of aromatic hydrocarbons, and identify point sources.
207. Optimal Activation of Both CD28 and 4-1BB in CAR-Targeted T Cells Results in Enhanced Tumor Eradication

Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) are a novel drug class, consisting of engineered receptors for antigen that redirect and reprogram T-cell function. We have shown in both xenogeneic tumor models as well as in leukemia patients, that CD19-targeted T-cells are capable of inducing complete remission of relapsed or refractory B cell malignancies. The inclusion of appropriate co-stimulation is essential for the potency, quality and durability of the CAR T cell response. Here we show that the co-stimulatory domain incorporated within the CAR dictates the kinetics of in vivo anti-tumor response and T-cell accumulation. Additionally, expression of co-stimulatory ligands complementary to the second-generation CAR provides an optimal balance of cytolytic activity and T-cell accumulation resulting in superior anti-tumor function. The combination of 19-28z CAR with 4-1BBL was associated with activation of the endogenous Interferon-β (IFNβ) pathway in an IRF7-dependent manner. This enabled very small T-cell doses to eradicate systemic established leukemia in a xenogeneic model. The unexpected role of the IRF7/IFNβ pathway provides insight into the synergy behind co-stimulatory molecules in T cell activation and a novel mechanism through which engineered T cells can increase tumor control.
A Modest Proposal for Peace among People of Peace

People in the United States are passionate about a variety of political issues, causing conflicts far too often. In this essay, five steps are identified for reducing the effects of such conflicts, thus improving the chances for peace/harmony among people who disagree. Supportive research is described. Mennonites are people of religious faith. They are also considered to be people of peace. The five steps are described within the context of the conflicts Mennonites are currently experiencing regarding same-sex marriages. The five steps, however, should be applicable to any situation in which people are dealing with very different opinions about very important issues.
A Guide for Assessing Clients’ Attachment to the Sacred: The Spiritual Attachment History

Current research supports that many people relate to God or a higher power in ways consistent with attachment theory, yet nothing exists assisting therapists in gathering attachment-focused background information regarding their clients’ spiritual lives. This paper fills that gap with the Spiritual Attachment History (SAH), a semi-structured interview guide adapted from an ICEEFT Training in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy attachment history handout, to help the authors meet their clients’ spiritual and relational clinical concerns. We describe how we developed the SAH and provide a case study of its incorporation into two treatment plans. We also discuss implications for training, for use by marriage and family therapists, for cross-cultural research, and the ethics of addressing spirituality as a cultural issue.
Correlation analysis of fracture arrangement in space

Abstract We present new techniques that overcome limitations of standard approaches to documenting spatial arrangement. The new techniques directly quantify spatial arrangement by normalizing to expected values for randomly arranged fractures. The techniques differ in terms of computational intensity, robustness of results, ability to detect anti-correlation, and use of fracture size data. Variation of spatial arrangement across a broad range of length scales facilitates distinguishing clustered and periodic arrangements—opposite forms of organization—from random arrangements. Moreover, self-organized arrangements can be distinguished from arrangements due to extrinsic organization. Traditional techniques for analysis of fracture spacing are hamstrung because they account neither for the sequence of fracture spacings nor for possible coordination between fracture size and position, attributes accounted for by our methods. All of the new techniques reveal fractal clustering in a test case of veins, or cement-filled opening-mode fractures, in Pennsylvanian Marble Falls Limestone. The observed arrangement is readily distinguishable from random and periodic arrangements. Comparison of results that account for fracture size with results that ignore fracture size demonstrates that spatial arrangement is dominated by the sequence of fracture spacings, rather than coordination of fracture size with position. Fracture size and position are not completely independent in this example, however, because large fractures are more clustered than small fractures. Both spatial and size organization of veins here probably emerged from fracture interaction during growth. The new approaches described here, along with freely available software to implement the techniques, can be applied with effect to a wide range of structures, or indeed many other phenomena such as drilling response, where spatial heterogeneity is an issue.
Comparison of tissue processing methods for microvascular visualization in axolotls

The vascular system, the pipeline for oxygen and nutrient delivery to tissues, is essential for vertebrate development, growth, injury repair, and regeneration. With their capacity to regenerate entire appendages throughout their lifespan, axolotls are an unparalleled model for vertebrate regeneration, but they lack many of the molecular tools that facilitate vascular imaging in other animal models. The determination of vascular metrics requires high quality image data for the discrimination of vessels from background tissue. Quantification of the vasculature using perfused, cleared specimens is well-established in mammalian systems, but has not been widely employed in amphibians. The objective of this study was to optimize tissue preparation methods for the visualization of the microvascular network in axolotls, providing a basis for the quantification of regenerative angiogenesis. To accomplish this aim, we performed intracardiac perfusion of pigment-based contrast agents and evaluated aqueous and non-aqueous clearing techniques. The methods were verified by comparing the quality of the vascular images and the observable vascular density across treatment groups. Simple and inexpensive, these tissue processing techniques will be of use in studies assessing vascular growth and remodeling within the context of regeneration. Advantages of this method include: •Higher contrast of the vasculature within the 3D context of the surrounding tissue •Enhanced detection of microvasculature facilitating vascular quantification •Compatibility with other labeling techniques.
Effect of Preoperative Opioid Dosage on Postoperative Period After Thoracic Spinal Cord Stimulator Surgery.

Objective We aim to study the impact of preoperative opioid dosage on postoperative length of stay (LOS) in patients undergoing thoracic spinal cord stimulator (SCS) placement surgery as a primary objective. Secondary objectives of this study include investigating patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) usage and postoperative complications like fever in relation to patients' preoperative opioid dosage and postoperative LOS. Methods A total of 47 patients who underwent thoracic SCS for first time were retrospectively studied through chart review. These patients were categorized into two groups, with Group I patients taking a morphine equivalent dose (MED) of less than 100 mg and Group II patients taking an MED of more than 100 mg preoperatively. Results Group I had 22 patients, and Group II had 25 patients. The average age in Group I was 53.45 years, and the average age in Group II was 50.16 years. There were seven males (38%) and 15 females (62%) in Group I, and in Group II there were 11 males (44%) and 14 females (56%). The average LOS in both groups was two days. In Group I, there were 16 patients (73%) who had an LOS of one day and six patients (27%) who had an LOS of more than one day, and in Group II there were 11 patients (44%) who had an LOS of less than one day and 14 patients (56%) who had an LOS of more than one day, with a P value of 0.047. On univariate analysis, postoperative fever and PCA usage correlated with longer hospital stay, with a P value of < 0.001. Conclusion Patients on high-dose chronic opioid therapy, defined as an MED greater than 100 mg, who undergo thoracic spinal cord stimulator surgery tend to have longer postoperative hospital stays compared with patients on lower-dose opioid therapy.
Mechanistic study of the catalytic conversion of 2,3-butanediol to butenes

Abstract The reaction kinetics of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) and other key intermediates, including methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), 2-methylpropanal, acetoin, 2-butanol and 2-methyl-1-propanol, were investigated over acidic zeolites (ZSM-5, and Y-type zeolite), Cu/ZSM-5, Cu/Y and Cu/SiO2 to elucidate the roles of acid and metal sites in the process of hydrodeoxygenation of 2,3-BDO to butene. Hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions occur on Cu sites, while dehydration reactions take place on acid sites. At low space time, 2,3-BDO can readily be converted to acetoin by dehydrogenation over supported Cu catalysts, however, with increasing space time, the formed acetoin is hydrogenated back to 2,3-BDO. DFT (density functional theory) calculations suggest that the cage structure of Y zeolite allows the formation of larger Cu clusters, potentially blocking acid sites and preventing access of C4 alcohols (2-butanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol) to the acid sites for dehydration. This effect results in lower selectivity to butenes over Cu/Y than on Cu/ZSM-5.
Fed-batch mixotrophic cultivation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for high-density cultures

Abstract The green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism that has been proposed as a potential production platform for high-value recombinant products, but to date, there has been little development of a commercially viable cultivation process. Here we demonstrate a novel mixotrophic fed-batch cultivation strategy in which average biomass density, productivity, and total amount of recombinant GFP significantly increases. Systematic feeding of acetic acid and nutrients into a bioreactor resulted in culture densities increasing from an initial 0.45 ± 0.03 to 23.69 ± 0.5 g L−1 AFDW after 168 h at an average productivity of 181.01 ± 8.8 mg L−1 h−1, a 10-fold increase in comparison to traditional batch cultures. GFP expression was low under both conditions, but fed-batch cultivation resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in total GFP upon culture termination. The effect of fed-batch cultivation on lipid composition and primary metabolites was investigated and elevated levels of the osmoregulatory molecules proline and glycerol were found, suggesting that salt accumulation may have increased over time in fed-batch cultures and eventually limited growth.
An Unusual Complication of Silver Nitrate Treatment of Hemorrhagic Cystitis: Case Report

AbstractA patient with severe cyclophosphamide cystitis was treated with intravesical silver nitrate instillation to control bleeding. This resulted in apparent reflux and extravasation of the silver nitrate solution with secondary retroperitoneal inflammation. Subsequently, the patient required treatment for a small, fibrotic bladder with persistent reflux. The precautions and recommendations for treatment of such difficult patients are discussed.
Plant Multisubunit RNA Polymerases IV and V

Plants are unique among eukaryotes in having five nuclear multisubunit RNA polymerases. These include RNA polymerases I, II, and III (Pols I, II, and III), which are ubiquitous among eukaryotes, plus two plant-specific RNA polymerases, Pol IV and Pol V, that are 12-subunit enzymes that evolved as specialized forms of Pol II. Pols IV and V are nonessential for viability but play important roles in RNA-mediated gene silencing pathways that tame transposons, defend against invading viruses, mediate cross talk among alleles, and influence development. Numerous amino acids that are invariant in the catalytic subunits of Pols I, II, and III are substituted, or even absent, in Pols IV or V, implying that Pols IV and V have fewer functional constraints on their evolution than other multisubunit RNA polymerases. In vitro, Pol IV and Pol V can extend an RNA primer hybridized to a DNA template, but the templates transcribed by Pol IV and Pol V in vivo are unclear. Likewise, the boundaries of Pol IV and Pol V transcription units and the characteristics of their primary transcripts remain undefined. In this chapter, the state of our understanding of Pol IV and Pol V subunit compositions and functions is discussed.
An Objective Approach to Spectral Classification

The next generation of spectroscopic surveys, both Galactic and extra-galactic (e.g., SDSS, 2dF), present the challenge of classifying spectra in an efficient and objective manner. The standard approach to this problem has been to visually classify spectra based on a number of spectral features (e.g., the equivalent widths of emission lines). The size of new spectral surveys (> 106 galaxies) and the desire to compare the luminosity and environments of galaxies with their spectral properties make these techniques infeasible. We describe here an automated classification scheme that is being developed for the SDSS.
The Use of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the Identification of Pathogens Causing Sepsis.

Background: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition with high rates of morbidity and mortality; effective and appropriate antibiotic therapy is essential for ensuring patient improvement. To aid in the diagnosis of sepsis, blood cultures are drawn and sent to the microbiology laboratory for pathogen growth, identification, and susceptibility testing. The clinical microbiology laboratory can assist the medical team by providing timely identification of the pathogen(s) causing the bloodstream infection through the use of rapid diagnostic technology. One of these rapid diagnostic technologies, MALDI-TOF MS, has been proven to reduce the time required for appropriate antibiotic therapy when used to identify pathogens grown in culture. This technology has also been used to identify pathogens directly from the positive blood cultures with great success. Content: In this minireview, we summarize the different methods that have been developed to directly identify pathogens from positive blood cultures by use of MALDI-TOF MS and the effect of this technology on patient outcomes. Additionally, we touch on current research in the field, including the identification of antimicrobial resistance directly from positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF MS. Summary: Rapid identification of pathogens is important in the survival of patients undergoing a septic event. MALDI-TOF MS technology has played an important role in rapid identification, which has led to a reduction in the time to appropriate antibiotic therapy and contributed to the improvement of patient outcomes. The high sensitivity and specificity of MALDI-TOF MS identification, in combination with MALDI-TOF9s rapid function and reduced labor costs, make this technology an attractive choice for clinical laboratories.
Low temperature tolerances, nocturnal acid accumulation, and biomass increases for seven species of agave

Simple techniques for measuring low temperature sensitivity and nocturnal acid accumulation by agaves in the laboratory were compared with freezing damage and biomass increases observed in the field in southern Arizona. Taking cold acclimation into consideration, uptake of a vital stain into the chlorenchyma cells of seven species indicated that Agave sisalana was most sensitive to low temperatures, followed by A. vilmoriniana, and then A. americana. This agrees with the relative degree of leaf necrosis observed in the field in response to a freezing episode. Thus, stain uptake can be useful for assessing whether various species will survive in regions outside their natural range or where they are currently cultivated. Except for A. vilmoriniana, nocturnal acid accumulation among the other six species was greatest for A. americana, next for A. weberi, second least for A. parryi, and least for A. deserti, which agrees with the relative increases in fresh weight and dry weight observed over a 26-month period in the field. Agave vilmoriniana, which had an anomalous response of nocturnal acid accumulation to day/night air temperatures, had the second highest biomass increase, apparently because of its substantial net CO 2 uptake during the daytime. When allowance is taken for such daytime CO 2 uptake, relative nocturnal acid accumulation should prove useful for evaluating the potential performance of agaves and other crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants under new environmental conditions.
Searching for the dead cone effects with iterative declustering of heavy-flavor jets

The `dead cone' effect is a predicted suppression of radiation from a charged particle at small angles, but it is difficult to measure in practice. In this Editors' Suggestion the authors demonstrate iterative declustering techniques which help to reveal the dead cone in Monte Carlo simulations.
Clinical Outcomes of Successful Revascularization of Chronic Total Coronary Occlusions with Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffolds: A Systematic Review

Revascularization of chronic total occlusions (CTO) with percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with favorable long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes. Whether bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) would be advantageous in the treatment of CTO is unknown as patients with these lesions were generally excluded from large BVS randomized trials. We performed a systematic review, which sought to summarize known data on mid- to long-term clinical outcomes for BVS in CTO. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Cochrane Library through April 2018 to look for studies on implantation of BVS in CTO. Outcomes of interest included myocardial infarction, cardiac death, all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), vessel restenosis, scaffold thrombosis, and target lesion revascularization. A total of 13 articles met the inclusion criteria for analysis. All studies were observational with a total number of patients of 1,077. Only two studies included comparator groups which retrospectively compared BVS with drug-eluting stents (DES). The studies had variable size (21 to 537) and follow-up duration (3-23 months). The review showed favorable outcomes for BVS implantation in CTO with the reported incidence of MACE ranged from 0% to 6.7% with no significant differences between BVS and DES groups in double arm studies. Although data on the use of first-generation BVS in CTO are sporadic and limited by small sample observational studies, available evidence is promising and suggests of acceptable outcomes comparable with second generation DES. Further investigation with randomized clinical trials and use of newer generation scaffolds is required.
Comfort or Care: Why Do We Have to Choose? Implementing a Geriatric Trauma Palliative Care Program

The geriatric (≥65 years of age) population is one of the fastest growing age groups in the United States. As this number increases, so does the number of geriatric trauma patients. Because this group has higher mortality rates and requires more resources, a Geriatric Trauma Palliative Care Program was created at a Level 1 Trauma Center in Dallas, TX, to provide concurrent lifesaving therapies and primary palliative care to older adults. The trauma program implemented the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Trauma Quality Improvement Program Palliative Care Best Practices Guidelines () to better care for acute traumatic injuries as well as the specific spiritual, emotional, and psychiatric needs of the geriatric trauma palliative care patient and family. Using the guidelines, the team performed a gap analysis, carried out program development, created a palliative care pathway to guide our evidence-based practice implementation, and performed retrospective chart reviews for 3-month pre- and postimplementation analysis. Using Person's χ test and Fisher's exact test, our initial evaluation of the program showed statistically significant (p < .001) improvements in the measures related to the implementation of primary palliative care, pain and symptom management, and end-of-life care. The guidelines gave the team a consistent framework for implementing the basic competencies required to deliver primary palliative care, pain and symptom management, and end-of-life care to trauma patients.
Burnout, Happiness, and Work–Life Harmony

Nowhere does the adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” apply more than in the area of physician wellness and burnout prevention. Physician burnout, in which physicians become dissatisfied and lose a sense of efficacy with their profession, has become so widespread that it is considered a public health crisis. There are some strategies, and data, that social science have shown to be useful to improve day-to-day and year-to-year life and happiness. We will attempt to review these, with special attention to the work-related nemesis of happiness/wellness: burnout.
Adaptive Passive Mobile Sensing Using Reinforcement Learning

Continuous passive sensing using smartphone embedded sensors can drain the battery quickly, interrupting other usages of the device. In order to improve the energy efficiency in continuous mobile sensing applications, we propose a new adaptive sensing framework using reinforcement learning to optimize the sensing timing. We model our adaptive sensing problem as a Markov Decision Process and dynamically change the sensing timing of targeted sensor(s) so that they are only operating in desired contexts (e.g. collect accelerometer data only when the phone is moving). Using accelerometer data continuously collected from 220 participants for over two weeks, we show that our approach is able to save the energy while attaining high accuracy and data coverage. Specifically, our strategy attains energy saving of 62.4 % at an accuracy of 80.9% and data coverage of 67.4%, which outperforms two baseline strategies, including a random strategy and a strategy using learning automata technique.
Validating the factor structure of the drug free schools and communities scale for child welfare involved youth

The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act scale (DFSCA) has been widely used to measure school engagement in studies utilizing the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) data. R...
Integrating 3D structural information into systems biology.

Systems biology is a data-heavy field that focuses on systems-wide depictions of biological phenomena necessarily sacrificing a detailed characterization of individual components. As an example, genome-wide protein interaction networks are widely used in systems biology and continuously extended and refined as new sources of evidence become available. Despite the vast amount of information about individual protein structures and protein complexes that has accumulated in the past 50 years in the Protein Data Bank, the data, computational tools, and language of structural biology are not an integral part of systems biology. However, increasing effort has been devoted to this integration, and the related literature is reviewed here. Relationships between proteins that are detected via structural similarity offer a rich source of information not available from sequence similarity, and homology modeling can be used to leverage Protein Data Bank structures to produce 3D models for a significant fraction of many proteomes. A number of structure-informed genomic and cross-species (i.e., virus–host) interactomes will be described, and the unique information they provide will be illustrated with a number of examples. Tissue- and tumor-specific interactomes have also been developed through computational strategies that exploit patient information and through genetic interactions available from increasingly sensitive screens. Strategies to integrate structural information with these alternate data sources will be described. Finally, efforts to link protein structure space with chemical compound space offer novel sources of information in drug design, off-target identification, and the identification of targets for compounds found to be effective in phenotypic screens.
Serial Default and Debt Renegotiation

Emerging countries that have defaulted on their debt repayment obligations in the past are more likely to default again in the future than are non-defaulters even with the same debt-toGDP ratio. This paper explains this stylized fact within a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework by explicitly modeling renegotiations between a defaulting country and its creditors. The quantitative analysis of the model reveals that the equilibrium probability of default for a given debt-to-GDP level is weakly increasing with the number of past defaults, consistent with empirical observations. The equilibrium of the model also accords with an additional observed fact: a country for which default terms require less than a 100 percent recovery rate tends to pay a higher rate of return (relative to a risk-free rate) on subsequently issued debt than do defaulting countries that agree to a full recovery rate. JEL Classi cation Codes: E43; F32; F34; G12
Substance Abuse Risk and Medication Monitoring in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer Receiving Palliative Care.

Oncology and Palliative Medicine lack guidance on routine opioid risk screening and compliance monitoring. This study explored relationships among risk screening and aberrant medication related beh...
The rewards of motherhood: Neural response to reward in pregnancy prospectively predicts maternal bonding with the infant in the postpartum period

Mother-to-infant attachment is critical to the health of mothers and offspring. While reward circuitry is implicated in maternal attachment, no studies have yet examined whether antenatal (i.e., in pregnancy) reward responsiveness predicts mother-to-infant bonding in the postnatal period. In a sample of 63 women, we examined whether the Reward Positivity (RewP), an event-related potential elicited to feedback indicating monetary reward, measured in pregnancy prospectively predicts self-reported mother-to-infant attachment at approximately one year postpartum. An increased antenatal RewP was associated with increased postnatal pleasure in proximity with the infant. Furthermore, this association was independent of associations with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. This is the first study to find a prospective association between reward responsiveness in pregnancy and postnatal bonding with the infant. Future directions for attachment research are discussed.
Digging up the dirt on “clean” dietary labels: Public health considerations and opportunities for increased Federal oversight

Background "Clean" dietary labels are often viewed by consumers as referencing products that are minimally processed, without additives, preservatives, artificial colors, or ingredients, but may also be interpreted as vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, "real," or "natural." Although the "clean" diet trend continues to grow in popularity, there is a lack of consensus regarding the definition and use of this terminology with a corresponding lack of regulation for such labels in the United States. Method This multidisciplinary scoping review examines the public health implications of the "clean" label trend and the legal and policy landscape for regulation. We report on findings from case law and legal research generated through the Westlaw database and from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement actions and website documents to discuss options for federal- and state-level intervention to mitigate harm. Results One feasible avenue for change is for the FDA to provide industry guidance, disseminate public statements to debunk myths, and enforce labeling statutes to police deceptive "clean" labeling claims. We also suggest consumer-protection litigation and state-level litigation via attorneys general as alternative actions to combat the abundant misinformation associated with "clean" diets and labels. Discussion Although the FDA has taken some enforcement actions, these efforts are insufficient given the proliferation of "clean" label products in the marketplace and the potential for adverse impacts on public health including increased risk for disordered eating. The current unregulated, undefined landscape for "clean" dietary labels thus requires urgent action by federal authorities and state attorneys general.
Application of a Neural Network Classifier to Radiofrequency-Based Osteopenia/Osteoporosis Screening

Objective: There is an unmet need for quick, physically small, and cost-effective office-based techniques that can measure bone properties without the use of ionizing radiation. Methods: The present study reports the application of a neural network classifier to the processing of previously collected data on very-low-power radiofrequency propagation through the wrist to detect osteoporotic/osteopenic conditions. Our approach categorizes the data obtained for two dichotomic groups. Group 1 included 27 osteoporotic/osteopenic subjects with low Bone Mineral Density (BMD), characterized by a Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) T-score below – 1, measured within one year. Group 2 included 40 healthy and mostly young subjects without major clinical risk factors such as a (family) history of bone fracture. We process the complex radiofrequency spectrum from 30 kHz to 2 GHz. Instead of averaging data for both wrists, we process them independently along with the wrist circumference and then combine the results, which greatly increases the sensitivity. Measurements along with data processing require less than 1 min. Results: For the two dichotomic groups identified above, the neural network classifier of the radiofrequency spectrum reports a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 94%. Significance: These results are obtained without including any additional clinical risk factors. They justify that the radio transmission data are usable on their own as a predictor of bone density. This approach has the potential for screening patients at risk for fragility fractures in the office, given the ease of implementation, small device size, and low costs associated with both the technique and the equipment.
Historical Perspective of Calcium Management in Patients with Chronic Renal Diseases

The trade-off hypothesis emphasized the importance of calcium in the regulation of secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic renal disease (CRD).1 Subsequently, Slatopolsky et al.2 in 1971 proved that restriction of phosphate (P) controls secondary hyperparathyroidism. Although the duration of the experiment was 1 year, restriction of phosphorus did control elevation of parathyroid hormone (PTH), because subjects maintained calcium (Ca) levels within the normal range. For the past 30 years, physicians have managed secondary hyperparathyroidism by increasing exogenous calcium intake3 and dialysate Ca concentrations. Soft tissue calcification was well recognized in 1977 by Kuzela et al.4 Because of increased exogenous Ca intake, tissue calcification occurs frequently in dialysis and in CRD patients.5,6 In 1995 Slatopolsky7 and others,8 discovered that phosphorus was the major factor in controlling PTH. Because dietary restriction of P is very difficult to achieve, P binding agents (e.g., aluminum and magnesium compounds) were used to regulate P metabolism until these agents were discontinued because they were neurotoxic and caused bone damage. A recent study indicated that lanthanum carbonate deposits in tissues, for example, brain, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle myocardium, and lung, and in five of six nephrectomized rats after taking this compound for 4 weeks.9 Therefore, lanthanum carbonate should be used with caution.
3-D Simulation of Fiber-Fluid Interactions During Composite Manufacturing Using The Galerkin Boundary Element Method

A Galerkin boundary element technique with a quadratic approximation of the variables was developed to simulate the 3-D flow phenomena with hydrodynamic interactions around reinforcing fibers during composite manufacturing applications such as injection, compression and resin transfer molding. The boundary element method was selected as it offers the advantage of reducing the dimension of the numerical problem by one, thus allowing investigation of complicated particle configurations in such applications.
Using Projects in an Elementary Statistics Course for Non-Science Majors

Two of the most common suggestions for improving statistics education are using substantial open-ended projects and using real data sets for statistical analysis. Both recommendations have been inc...