cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quality Metrics in Inpatient Neurology

Quality of care in the context of inpatient neurology is the standard of performance by neurologists and the hospital system as measured against ideal models of care. There are growing regulatory pressures to define health care value through concrete quantifiable metrics linked to reimbursement. Theoretical models of quality acknowledge its multimodal character with quantitative and qualitative dimensions. For example, the Donabedian model distils quality as a phenomenon of three interconnected domains, structure-process-outcome, with each domain mutually influential. The actual measurement of quality may be implicit, as in peer review in morbidity and mortality rounds, or explicit, in which criteria are prespecified and systemized before assessment. As a practical contribution, in this article a set of candidate quality indicators for inpatient neurology based on an updated review of treatment guidelines is proposed. These quality indicators may serve as an initial blueprint for explicit quality metrics long overdue for inpatient neurology.
Recruiting physicians for small and rural hospitals. Guidelines for attracting, screening, and hiring the best candidates.

The unique challenges of rural practice and the general shortage of rural M.D.s make physician recruitment in such areas a daunting prospect. However, as outlined here, an emphasis on the advantages of small-town practice and a thoughtful and organized recruiting strategy will increase the odds in everyone's favor.
Text mining for precision medicine: automating disease-mutation relationship extraction from biomedical literature.

Objective Identifying disease-mutation relationships is a significant challenge in the advancement of precision medicine. The aim of this work is to design a tool that automates the extraction of disease-related mutations from biomedical text to advance database curation for the support of precision medicine. Materials and Methods We developed a machine-learning (ML) based method to automatically identify the mutations mentioned in the biomedical literature related to a particular disease. In order to predict a relationship between the mutation and the target disease, several features, such as statistical features, distance features, and sentiment features, were constructed. Our ML model was trained with a pre-labeled dataset consisting of manually curated information about mutation-disease associations. The model was subsequently used to extract disease-related mutations from larger biomedical literature corpora. Results The performance of the proposed approach was assessed using a benchmarking dataset. Results show that our proposed approach gains significant improvement over the previous state of the art and obtains F -measures of 0.880 and 0.845 for prostate and breast cancer mutations, respectively. Discussion To demonstrate its utility, we applied our approach to all abstracts in PubMed for 3 diseases (including a non-cancer disease). The mutations extracted were then manually validated against human-curated databases. The validation results show that the proposed approach is useful in a real-world setting to extract uncurated disease mutations from the biomedical literature. Conclusions The proposed approach improves the state of the art for mutation-disease extraction from text. It is scalable and generalizable to identify mutations for any disease at a PubMed scale.
Inhibition of human internal mammary artery contractions. An in vitro study of vasodilators.

The internal mammary artery is currently the preferred conduit for myocardial revascularization; however, perioperative vasospasm of the internal mammary artery may limit its use as a bypass graft. The ability of various vasodilators to inhibit internal mammary artery contraction was investigated with the use of discarded segments of human internal mammary artery not used in coronary artery bypass grafting. Ring segments of human internal mammary arteries were suspended on strain gauges in muscle baths containing 37° C Krebs solution for measurement of isometric tension in vitro. Arterial contraction was stimulated by elevating the extracellular potassium concentration to 70 mmol/L or by exposure to a 10 μmol/L concentration of norepinephrine, and inhibition of contraction by vasodilators was measured. The order of potency to inhibit potassium-induced contraction was as follows: nifedipine > verapamil > nitroprusside > papaverine. At maximal effective doses, nifedipine, verapamil, and papaverine almost completely inhibited potassium-induced contraction, whereas nitroprusside inhibited contraction by only 55%. When norepinephrine was used to contract the arteries, a biphasic relaxation curve was seen with nifedipine, but not with other vasodilator drugs. The order of potency to inhibit norepinephrine-induced contraction was as follows: nifedipine > nitroprusside > verapamil > papaverine. Maximal inhibition of norepinephrine contraction by these vasodilators ranged from 68% to 95%. Nitroglycerin, isoproterenol, and adenosine produced little or no inhibition of internal mammary artery contraction caused by potassium or norepinephrine. Although nifedipine was the most potent vasodilator, papaverine produced the greatest maximal inhibition of both potassium- and norepinephrine-induced contraction of human internal mammary artery. (J T horac C ardiovasc S urg 1992;104:977-82)
Bronchial carcinoid with massive ossification :A case report and review of literature

We report a case of a 47-year-old male with unexplained fatigue, shortness of breath, fever, chronic cough, and weight loss of over 12 pounds over a 3 months period. Chest x-ray revealed complete opacification of the right hemithorax with collapse of the right middle and lower lung lobes and midline shift towards the right. A CT scan with contrast showed a 6 cm mass arising from the right mainstem bronchus that was completely occluding the lumen, causing right lung atelectasis. Histopathologic examination of the tumor revealed an atypical carcinoid tumor with massive ossification. This is a case report and review of the literature of the rare bronchial carcinoid demonstrating bone formation.
The Onsager Relations; Experimental Evidence

The Onsager reciprocal relations (orr) are a postulate of a linear thermodynamic theory of irreversible processes. This postulate states roughly that the matrix of linear coefficients L between properly chosen flows J and forces X is symmetric, that is $${L_{ij}} = {L_{ji}}$$
Testing the Significance of Apparent Truths

After finishing a series of examination of common-sense morality, in Book III, Chapter 11, Section 2 of ME, Sidgwick presents ‘four conditions, the complete fulfilment of which would establish a significant proposition, apparently self-evident, in the highest degree of certainty attainable: and which must be approximately realised by the premises of our reasoning in any inquiry, if that reasoning is to lead us cogently to trustworthy conclusions’ (ME p. 338).1
Design of high power microwave antennas using 3D printing technology

Complementary-split-ring (CSR) Slotted Waveguide Antennas have been proven to be critical to high-power-microwave (HPM) systems, due to their compact size, high gain and high power-handling capability. CSR-SWA designs depend on highly accurate electromagnetic simulations that take geometric details into full account. Conventional antenna manufacturing approaches such as direct machining and platelet technology lack the ability to precisely translate the electromagnetic simulation model into its physical metallization. To rapidly prototype complex 3D antenna structures in a cost-effective way, we propose an approach applying stereolithography or 3D printing technology. An S-band CSR-SWA printed on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and coated with metallic paint is tested. It is shown that 3D printing is capable of providing manufacturing precision for CSR-SWAs that makes fast prototyping of CSR-SWAs for HPM applications possible.
An adaptive parameterization method for SIFT based video stabilization

Video stabilization is used to eliminate unwanted shakiness in video caused by movement of the camera. This can be achieved by estimating the motion of the camera, filtering out the high frequency components in the motion path and warping the video frames in order to compensate for the motion. In this paper, an adaptive parameterization technique is proposed to define the characteristics of the filter used to eliminate high frequency components in the motion path. Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is used to extract the features from each video frame. A string of transformation matrices is used to represent the motion of the camera. For any frame that has to be stabilized, only a few frames in the local neighborhood are considered to calculate the required amount of motion compensation. The high-frequency components in camera motion are eliminated using a zero-mean Gaussian filter. The variance of the Gaussian filter that defines the amount of smoothening is computed automatically from the camera motion path. This is based on the observation that the variation in the individual components in the transformation matrices correlates with the amount of instability in the video. The proposed approach has been found to be effective irrespective of the presence of moving objects in the video.
Testing bidirectional associations among emotion regulation strategies and substance use: a daily diary study.

Background and aims Alcohol and marijuana are widely used among college students. Emotion regulation strategies have been linked to alcohol and marijuana use but little attention has been devoted to modeling the directionality of these associations. Aims of the current study were to test whether (a) daytime use of emotion regulation strategies influences the likelihood of evening substance use and (b) evening substance use influences the likelihood of next-day use of emotion regulation strategies. Design Longitudinal daily diary data were collected for 30 days via online surveys. Setting: Northeastern United States. Participants 1,640 college students (M age = 19.2, 54% female, 80% European American) were recruited each semester between spring 2008 and spring 2012. Measurements Daily diaries assessed emotion regulation strategies (distraction, reappraisal, problem-solving, avoidance) and substance use (any drinking, heavy drinking, marijuana use, co-use of any drinking/heavy drinking and marijuana). Covariates included gender, age, race/ethnicity, fraternity/sorority involvement, and baseline depression. Findings Daytime distraction (odds ratio OR = .95), reappraisal (OR = .95), and problem-solving (OR = .94) predicted lower odds of evening marijuana use (p-values < .02). Evening heavy drinking (OR = .90) and marijuana use (OR = .89) predicted lower odds of next-day problem-solving, with heavy drinking also predicting higher odds (OR = 1.08) of next-day avoidance and marijuana use also predicting higher odds (OR = 1.08) of next-day reappraisal (p-values < .03). Conclusions There appear to be reciprocal relations among emotion regulation strategies (distraction, reappraisal, and problem-solving) and substance use: greater daytime use of emotion regulation strategies predicts lower evening substance use, while higher evening substance use predicts higher next day avoidance and reappraisal but lower next-day problem-solving.
Clustering for set partitioning with a case study in ridesharing

By exploring alternative approaches to combinatorial optimization, we propose the first known formal connection between clustering and set partitioning, with the goal of identifying a subclass of set partitioning problems that can be solved efficiently and with optimality guarantees through a clustering approach. We prove the equivalence between classical centroid clustering problems and a special case of set partitioning called metric k-set partitioning. We discuss the implications for k-means and regularized geometric k-medians, and we give several future extensions and applications. Finally, we present a case study in combinatorial optimization for ridesharing, in which we use an efficient Expectation Maximization (EM) style algorithm to achieve a 69% reduction in total vehicle distance, as compared with no ridesharing.
Closed-form solutions for physically-based shape modeling and recognition

An efficient, physically based solution for recovering a 3-D solid model from collections of 3-D surface measurements is presented. Given a sufficient number of independent measurements, the solution is overconstrained and unique except for rotational symmetries. A physically based object recognition method that allows simple, closed-form comparisons of recovered 3-D solid models is given. The performance of these methods is evaluated using both synthetic and real laser rangefinder data. >
A decentralized Volt/Var Optimization scheme for smart distribution systems

This paper considers the use of inverter interfaced distributed generators (DGs) for Volt/Var control in a distribution system with high penetration of DGs. A new decentralized Volt/Var Optimization (VVO) scheme is proposed to facilitate Volt/Var control for such a case. The proposed method is based on the Dantzig-Wolf decomposition and the paper shows that this approach facilitates dividing the distribution system into subareas where a local controller can be assigned. The effectiveness of DW-based decentralized VVO scheme is tested using the IEEE 34 node test feeder with high penetration of DGs.
Dynamic strategy for personalized medicine

Display Omitted We propose a framework to determine treatment policies for breast cancer patients.Computed policies have significant potential benefit compared to the standard treatment policy.The proposed method can suggest a personalized treatment policy in real time.The proposed method scales well with the number of alternative therapies. We compare methods to develop an adaptive strategy for therapy choice in a class of breast cancer patients, as an example of approaches to personalize therapies for individual characteristics and each patients response to therapy. Our model maintains a Markov belief about the effectiveness of the different therapies and updates it as therapies are administered and tumor images are observed, reflecting tumor response. We compare three different approximate methods to solve our analytical model against standard medical practice and show significant potential benefit of the computed dynamic strategies to limit tumor growth and to reduce the number of time periods patients are given chemotherapy, with its attendant side effects.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Cardiac Troponin C Mutations Differentially Affect Slow Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle Regulation

Mutations in TNNC1—the gene encoding cardiac troponin C (cTnC)—that have been associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and cardiac dysfunction may also affect Ca2+-regulation and function of slow skeletal muscle since the same gene is expressed in both cardiac and slow skeletal muscle. Therefore, we reconstituted rabbit soleus fibers and bovine masseter myofibrils with mutant cTnCs (A8V, C84Y, E134D and D145E) associated with HCM to investigate their effects on contractile force and ATPase rates, respectively. Previously, we showed that these HCM cTnC mutants, except for E134D, increased the Ca2+ sensitivity of force development in cardiac preparations. In the current study, an increase in Ca2+ sensitivity of isometric force was only observed for the C84Y mutant when reconstituted in soleus fibers. Incorporation of cTnC C84Y in bovine masseter myofibrils reduced the ATPase activity at saturating [Ca2+], whereas, incorporation of cTnC D145E increased the ATPase activity at inhibiting and saturating [Ca2+]. We also tested whether reconstitution of cardiac fibers with troponin complexes containing the cTnC mutants and slow skeletal troponin I (ssTnI) could emulate the slow skeletal functional phenotype. Reconstitution of cardiac fibers with troponin complexes containing ssTnI attenuated the Ca2+ sensitization of isometric force when cTnC A8V and D145E were present; however, it was enhanced for C84Y. In summary, although the A8V and D145E mutants are present in both muscle types, their functional phenotype is more prominent in cardiac muscle than in slow skeletal muscle, which has implications for the protein-protein interactions within the troponin complex. The C84Y mutant warrants further investigation since it drastically alters the properties of both muscle types and may account for the earlier clinical onset in the proband.
Battery impedance measurement using sinusoidal ripple current emulator

This paper presents a sinusoidal ripple current (SRC) emulator which superimposes an ac ripple current frequency into a dc charging current in order to produce a sinusoidal ripple current without a ripple current controller. It can be used for several purposes: 1) to analyze the impact of ac ripple current magnitude and frequency on the battery internal characteristics; 2) to determine the parameters related to thermal rise and lithium plating; 3) to obtain more updated parameter information for improved utilization of a battery; 4) to determine the optimal ripple current frequency at the minimum impedance point by sweeping the ripple current frequency; 5) to utilize the obtained impedance data for estimating the battery circuit parameters and SOC level. The internal characteristics of batteries are complex and dynamic; therefore, it is beneficial to use the SRC emulator to validate SRC performance in a battery stack before integrating a SRC algorithm into a battery charger. This paper describes the development procedure of a SRC emulator to produce the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement for measuring the battery internal impedance. In order to validate the performance of the SRC emulator, a 12.8 V, 40 Ah Li-ion battery was charged at C/8 rate in CC mode with ± 1 App ac ripple current perturbation with an impedance from 20 Hz to 2 kHz.
Commerce, Culture, and Community: African Brazilian Women Negotiating Their Social Economies

This chapter examines key routes of empowerment through which Afro-Brazilian women participate in order to gain social and economic control.
Three-dimensional live multi-label light-sheet imaging with synchronous excitation-multiplexed structured illumination

Multiplexed imaging is a powerful tool for studying complex interactions inside biological systems. Spectral imaging methods that capture multiple fluorescent markers synchronously without sacrificing the imaging speed or resolution are most suitable for live imaging. We describe spectral-encoded structured illumination (spectral-SIM) light-sheet microscopy, which enables parallel multi-excitation-channel imaging in 3D. Spectral-SIM encodes the excitation wavelength as the phase of the illumination pattern, and allows synchronous image capture over multiple excitation channels at the same speed and spatial resolution as mono-channel structured light-sheet imaging. The technique retains structured light-sheet microscopy's ability in removing out-of-focus and scattered emission background, and generates clear 3D multiplexed images in thick tissue. The capability of this technique was demonstrated by the imaging of live triple-labeled transgenic zebrafish to over 300 μm deep with 0.5μm-by-2μm (lateral-by-axial) resolution.
Diseases of Nerve

Disorders of the peripheral nervous system cause characteristic motor, sensory, and autonomic symptoms and signs that should be recognized by the clinician. Once identified, these clinical deficits can be further characterized by their pattern of involvement and temporal evolution. Taken together, these elements of the history and physical can help the clinician create a neuropathy differential diagnosis that targets the most likely etiologies. Although an in-depth understanding of the specific causes of neuropathy is important, the knowledge is applied most efficiently when the basic concepts of neuropathy are well understood.
Repurposing ethacrynic acid for the treatment of bladder cancer.

521Background: Bladder cancer is a common cancer in the US. Approximately seventy-five percent of new cases present as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with a high recurrence rate. Our group has demonstrated in well-characterized human NMIBC cell lines that ethacrynic acid (EA) suppresses growth by inhibiting proliferation, clonogenicity, spheroid formation and inducing apoptosis. Additionally, EA affects markers of stemness and may work through the NOTCH signaling pathway. We present a clinical trial characterizing the safety and urinary tract exposure to EA and metabolites following oral administration in patients undergoing transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Methods: Institutional review board approval (#3674) was obtained for a Pilot trial in patients with presumed non-muscle invasive bladder cancer undergoing TURBT. All participants were given a single, 50 mg oral dose of EA in the pre-operative bay. Urine was collected at baseline, upon insertion of cystoscope (30-60 minutes...
Evaluation of a New Silastic Seminal Fluid Collection Device

A new Silastic seminal fluid collection device has been tested and compared in vitro with glass jars, latex condoms, and the Milex polyethylene sheath. In a series of tests utilizing 50 different semen samples and observing the effects on motility over a period of 4 hours, the Silastic seminal fluid collection device demonstrated sperm survival slightly better than that with glass jars, superior to that with the polyethylene Milex sheath, and far greater survival (by several hours) than with the latex condom. The Silastic collection device was found to be more comfortable and more pleasurable to the patients than was the Milex sheath. The accuracy of seminal volume measurements was also found to be better in the Silastic collection device.
Low-energy components of scattered gamma radiation

Energy spectra resulting from the scattering of gamma rays under various conditions were calculated by a Monte Carlo method. As a result of systematic studies on the low energy components of the sp...
An Interview with Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Co-Director of The Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. A psychiatrist by training, Lifton is one of the pioneers in the field of psychohistory, and over the course of the past 40 years he has conducted major research studies into some of the most violent events of the twentieth century. Although all these explorations have taken place in arenas of massive death and suffering, Lifton states that his quest has been that of understanding how people "struggle to maintain and extend life in the face of death." In his first extended study Lifton interviewed 25 Westerners and 15 Chinese citizens subjected to exercises in Communist Chinese thought reform. As he states in the interview, Lifton's research experience with survivors of Hiroshima was the "turning point" in both his personal and professional life. For the book, Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima (1967) (winner of the 1969 National Book Award in Science), he interviewed over 70 survivors of the atomic bombing. Nuclear themes have remained central to his work, and later nuclearrelated books include Indefensible Weapons: The Psychological and Political Case against Nuclear Weapons (1982) (co-authored with
Famous Stone Sufferers

Introduction and Objective The fact that stone patients have endured much throughout the ages and that prior to our current era, when the ultimate horror, “being cut for the stone” was the only alternative to the repeated episodes of colic should be recalled from time to time. Urolithiasis has affected humanity throughout the ages and has been indiscriminate to those lives it touched. A full accounting of those who have suffered and recorded their fates is beyond the scope of this investigation; however, it is prudent to recognize those whom this disease held in arrears.
Failed Ambition The Civil War Journals and Letters of Cavalryman Homer Harris Jewett

Review of: "Failed Ambition: The Civil War Journals and Letters of Cavalryman Homer Harris Jewett," edited by Tom Jewett.
ITCZ Width Controls on Hadley Cell Extent and Eddy-Driven Jet Position and Their Response to Warming

AbstractThe impact of global warming–induced intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) narrowing onto the higher-latitude circulation is examined in the GFDL Atmospheric Model, version 2.1 (AM2.1), run...
Pediatric Dysphagia: Survey Results Describing Speech-Language Pathologists' Education and Experience

Purpose Evaluation and treatment of pediatric dysphagia, swallowing difficulties occurring during childhood, is in the speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) scope of practice; however, little is kno...
Characterization of conventional dendritic cell populations in preclinical tumor models using flow cytometry.

Abstract Tumor infiltration of conventional dendritic cells has been shown to be essential for triggering efficient antitumor immune responses. These findings have generated an increasing demand for reliable methods to accurately identify and quantify specific DC-subpopulations, both in immune monitoring of clinical trial samples as well as in preclinical mouse tumor models. Here, we describe a flow cytometric approach to assess percentages and absolute counts of conventional dendritic cells in solid mouse tumors.
13 – Selected Applications

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the applications for which the femtosecond (fs) source can have practical advantages. The various applications include short pulse imaging, solitons, fs lasers as sensors, and stabilized fs lasers for applications in metrology. An elementary model for a laser cavity, including the self-phase modulation (SPM) and dispersion, leads to the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, which has steady-state soliton solutions. The same model applied to fibers finds stable pulse shapes propagating without distortion over long distances. Ultrashort pulses of sufficient intensity launched in a single-mode glass fiber above the zero dispersion wavelength evolve into a soliton. There are various problems that must be overcome for the long-distance propagation. These include the decrease of the soliton pulse energy over long distances because of the linear fiber losses, variations of the soliton propagation velocity resulting in timing jitter—leading to loss of information, and sliding of the soliton frequency—resulting in a mixture of adjacent frequency channels.
The Impact Of Academic Medical Center Policies Restricting Direct-To-Physician Marketing On Opioid Prescribing.

Direct-to-physician opioid marketing by pharmaceutical companies is widespread and may contribute to opioid overprescribing, an important driver of the US opioid crisis. Using a difference-in-diffe...
Associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time with chronic kidney disease: The Framingham Heart Study.

Background Few studies examined the individual and conjoint associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary times with the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among older adults. Methods We evaluated 1,268 Framingham Offspring Study participants (mean age 69.2 years, 53.8% women) between 2011 and 2014. CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min/1.732 and/or urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) ≥25/35 μg/mg (men/women). We used multivariable logistic regression models to relate time spent being sedentary and active with the odds of CKD. We then performed compositional data analysis to estimate the change in the eGFR and UACR when a fixed proportion of time in one activity behavior (among the following: moderate to vigorous physical activity [MVPA], light intensity physical activity [LIPA], and sedentary) is reallocated to another activity behavior. Results Overall, 258 participants had prevalent CKD (20.4%; 120 women). Higher total PA ([MVPA+LIPA], adjusted-odds ratio [OR] per 30 minutes/day increase, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78–0.96) and higher LIPA (OR per 30 minutes/day increase, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76–0.99) were associated with lower odds of CKD. Additionally, higher sedentary time (OR per 30 minutes/day increase, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04–1.29) was associated with higher odds of CKD. Reallocating 5% of the time from LIPA to sedentary was associated with the largest predicted difference in eGFR (-1.06 ml/min/1.73m2). Reallocating 1% of time spent in MVPA to sedentary status predicted the largest difference in UACR (14.37 μg/mg). Conclusion The findings suggest that increasing LIPA and maintaining MVPA at the expense of sedentary time may be associated with a lower risk of CKD in community-based older adults.
Isolation and Characterization of Soil Bacteria from an Abandoned Coal Mine in Southeast Kansas

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is found in areas of abandoned coal mines in southeast Kansas as a result of mine waste and tailings from century old mining events. Soil bacterial population acts as a reliable indicator of ecosystem health in these human-perturbed areas. The goals of the present study were to isolate and characterize soil bacteria from an abandoned coal mine land that included an AMD site in southeast Kansas and to isolate acid-tolerant bacterial species for bioremediation purpose. Soil samples were collected seasonally from five topographically diverse locations at the mine land. Soil texture was evaluated and soil chemistry was analyzed using inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. Up to sixty morphologically different colonies were isolated by dilution plating of soil samples on nutrient rich media, characterized using physiological and biochemical tests, checked for their growth on selective acid media, and identified at species-level using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Data showed that soil pH ranged from 2.4-6.8 and contained varied concentrations of arsenic, manganese, and iron. Total bacterial concentration was 102-106 CFU/g of soil. Biochemical tests revealed a diverse metabolic potential of the bacterial population. A total of 13 acid-tolerant bacterial strains were recovered. Majority of bacterial species belonged to phylum Firmicutes, followed by Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. Baseline measurements of culturable bacterial diversity as well as soil chemistry at AMD sites in this region are novel and the findings would have potential use in bioremediation of AMD sites.
Sexual risk compensation following voluntary medical male circumcision: Results from a prospective cohort study amongst human immunodeficiency virus-negative adult men in Botswana.

Background: Circumcised men may increase sexual risk-taking following voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) because of decreased perceptions of risk, which may negate the beneficial impact of VMMC in preventing new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. Objectives: We evaluated changes in sexual behaviour following VMMC. Method: We conducted a prospective cohort study amongst sexually active, HIV-negative adult men undergoing VMMC in Gaborone, Botswana, during 2013–2015. Risky sexual behaviour, defined as the number of sexual partners in the previous month and ≥ 1 concurrent sexual partnerships during the previous 3 months, was assessed at baseline (prior to VMMC) and 3 months post-VMMC. Change over time was assessed by using inverse probability weighted linear and conditional logistic regression models. Results: We enrolled 523 men; 509 (97%) provided sexual behaviour information at baseline. At 3 months post-VMMC, 368 (72%) completed the follow-up questionnaire. At baseline, the mean (95% confidence interval) number of sexual partners was 1.60 (1.48, 1.65), and 111 (31% of 353 with data) men reported engaging in concurrent partnerships. At 3 months post-VMMC, 70 (23% of 311 with data) reported fewer partners and 19% had more partners. Amongst 111 men with a concurrent partnership at baseline, 52% reported none post-VMMC. Amongst the 242 (69%) without a concurrent partnership at baseline, 19% reported initiating one post-VMMC. After adjustment for loss to follow-up, risky sexual behaviour post-VMMC (measured as mean changes in a number of partners and proportion engaging in concurrency) was similar to baseline levels. Conclusion: We found no evidence of sexual risk compensation in the 3 months following VMMC.
Cardiometabolic Center of Excellence: Analysis of Two-year Outcomes

Abstract Background Cardiovascular and kidney complications of T2D are increasing, in part due to suboptimal implementation of guideline-directed therapies. The Saint Luke's Haverty Cardiometabolic Center (CMC) of Excellence implements team-based, patient-centered approach focused on comprehensive risk reduction for patients with T2D and CVD, including use of cardioprotective agents such as GLP-1RA and SGLT-2i. We assessed outcomes during the first two years of CMC. Methods We included consecutive patients with at least two CMC visits January 2019-December 2020. We compared change in outcomes of interest between baseline and last CMC visits. Results Among 382 patients, mean age was 64.8±10.8 years, 62% were men, 81% Caucasian, BMI was 35.8±7.3 kg/m2, 90% had T2D. At baseline, 52(14%) patients were on GLP-1RA [5(1%) on target dose], and 86(23%) on SGLT-2i. After median follow-up of 6.5(3.7-11.4) months, 338(89%) patients were receiving GLP-1RA [249(65%) on target dose], and 240(63%) SGLT-2i, with 222(58%) on both agents. During follow-up, patients experienced significant reductions in body weight (235.2±51.7 to 220.1±50.9 lbs.; p Conclusion CMC approach was associated with greater adoption of guideline-directed therapies and substantial reductions in key CVD risk factors. Treatments were generally well tolerated. Adoption of novel care models such as CMC is important for more effective implementation of guidelines into practice.
LONGITUDINALLY RESTRAINED REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

THE BEHAVIOR OF BEAMS RESTRAINED AT THE ENDS AGAINST LONGITUDINAL DISPLACEMENTS HAS BEEN STUDIED ANALYTICALLY TO PROVIDE BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE PARAMETERS THAT INFLUENCE THE BEHAVIOR OF SUCH BEAMS AND TO PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE BEHAVIOR OF A SIMILARLY RESTRAINED SLAB. A METHOD OF ANALYSIS WAS DEVELOPED WHICH PROVIDED A RELIABLE SOLUTION TO THE BEHAVIOR OF THE RESTRAINED BEAM. THE INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE COMPUTER SOLUTION ON THE GEOMETRY OF DEFORMATION AND THE STRAINS, STRESSES AND FORCES FOR THE RESTRAINED BEAM PERMITTED A CAREFUL ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS PARAMETERS ON BEHAVIOR. THE EFFECTS OF STIFFNESS AND ECCENTRICITY OF THE END RESTRAINTS, STEEL REINFORCEMENT AND MIDSPAN CAMBER WERE INVESTIGATED IN DETAIL FOR A WIDE RANGE IN SLENDERNESS OF THE BEAM. THE RESULTS OF THIS ANALYSIS WERE USED TO DEVELOP A SIMPLE APPROXIMATE METHOD TO DETERMINE THE LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE RESTRAINED BEAM. /ASCE/
See Sato in the Funny Papers

Certain athletes, paid to play football or baseball, think of relaxation as a game of pool or round of golf. Sato, when he has time to while away, likes to draw in pen and ink and to practice calligraphy. Debbie, pausing in her studio, fools endlessly with a harpsichord, at home sings Heder in a harsh, true voice, and has written songs. They sound like bad Kurt Weill, she will concede with a fine big laugh, but they are not meant to be per formed or published. They are for recreation, though she may spend weeks working one out, before she sets it aside. Where the recreation is in that might conceivably be understood best by someone who enjoys passing time with difficult puzzles. Debbie and Sato have discovered one another almost instantly, not as a couple-that one is an early-middle-aged man, the other a somewhat older woman, is almost irrelevant to their games. What they are is fellow players, like new friends equally matched and equally enthusiastic at tennis or chess, who want to play together every chance they get. Yet to call our conductor and designer well-matched is not to say the) are similar: Sato is inventive, faceted, light. Debbie is more scrupulous and more thorough. Sometimes Debbie will absorb, absorb, contributing mostly her happy concentration of attention to the game. To be an audience is grown-ups' play, too, for those who will have it so, and if there be transcendental possibilities it is possible that some pass as truly into ecstasy from exhilaration as do others from high, holy seriousness. I have been thinking, Debbie, that a life, after all, is only one of those solemn comic strips we all love secretly, except that instead of a handsome doctor or soldier or meddling old woman, to make sure it comes out all right, we have natural irony to make sure it comes out oddly. So you could draw, and I could letter?my calligraphy is disgraceful for a Japanese, but all right for an American, I believe.
Future Challenges for the Right to Information (RTI) Movement (Futuros Desafíos Para El Movimiento Por El Derecho De Acceso a La Información)

Although the Right to Information (RTI) movement has made substantial progress over the last decade, there are still several threats to its ultimate success. Five challenges are canvassed: problems in the workability of RTI law; changes in the governmental "infostructure"; privatisation of government functions; changes in the security sector; and the lack of adequate investment in scholarly research on RTI systems. Keynote address to the International Conference of Information Commissioners, Wellington NZ, November 2007. Spanish translation appended to the English text.
PRODUCTION IN MICE OF TOLERANCE TO THE TOXIC MANIFESTATIONS OF CANDIDA ALBICANS

Hasenclever, H. F. (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.) and William O. Mitchell. Production in mice of tolerance to the toxic manifestations of Candida albicans. J. Bacteriol. 84:402–409. 1962. — Lethal toxic manifestations of Candida albicans in mice were demonstrated by the intravenous injection of 107 viable yeast cells. Untreated control animals had an average survival time of 4.5 to 10 hr after challenge. No multiplication of C. albicans could be demonstrated in the tissues of untreated infected controls 12 hr after challenge. Mice infected ip with C. albicans 6 days before iv challenge survived for periods three to four times longer than controls. Mice previously infected with other fungi also demonstrated tolerance to the toxicity of C. albicans. Coccidioides immitis and C. stellatoidea were especially effective. High-titer rabbit antiserum to viable C. albicans yeast cells was not protective. Studies of total and differential peripheral leukocytes indicated that mice in the tolerant state demonstrated a slight granulocytosis. Direct evidence of the protective effect of the granulocytic response was not shown
Antibiotics and macromolecular synthesis in microsomes and mitochondria. II. Antibiotics acting in a different manner in microsomes and mitochondria.

Abstract Effects of antibiotics were assayed on protein- and glycoprotein-synthesizing systems in isolated mitochondria and microsomes over a 105 concentration range. The antibiotic effects on glycoprotein synthesis were measured in isolated sterile rat liver and cortical intraneural mitochondria, while the effects on protein synthesis were measured on isolated sterile rat liver and cortical intraneural mitochondria and rat liver microsomes. Antimycin C only inhibited protein synthesis in the liver and brain mitochondria, while chloramphenicol and rutamycin inhibited protein and glycoprotein synthesis in rat liver and brain mitochondria. Erythromycin and kanamycin slowed macromolecular biosynthesis in all systems, but mitochondria were more sensitive to the inhibitory action. In general, the effects of these antibiotics caused a greater amount of inhibition of protein and glycoprotein synthesis in the cortical intraneural mitochondrial system than in the liver mitochondrial system. The protein synthesis was inhibited to a greater extent than the glycoprotein synthesis in both the liver and cortical intraneural mitochondrial systems. Cycloheximide and valinomycin affected macromolecular synthesis in mitochondria and microsomes, but their primary action was the inhibition of microsomal protein synthesis. Lincomycin and neomycin only inhibited microsomal protein synthesis.
Internal compensation structuring and social bias

Purpose – Research regarding pay inequities between the sexes is well established; however, internal compensation strategies and perceived labor pools (percentage of gender/minority applicants) have not been explored in depth. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 381 business students and 101 compensation specialists/managers participated in two experimental studies to establish the impact of perceived labor pools' ethnicity and gender on compensable factor weighting.Findings – Results supported hypotheses that significant discriminatory weighting of compensable factors would be established by the perceived ethnicity of the labor pool, the perceived gender of the labor pool, and participant gender.Research limitations/implications – A limitation of study one could be the population (business students) who may reflect a lack of knowledge of and/or a potential lack of interest in strategic compensation. Many of the students are likely to have had work experience but...
Minimizing Synchronization Overhead in the Implementation of MPI One-Sided Communication

The one-sided communication operations in MPI areintended to provide the convenience of directly accessing remote memory and the potential for higher performance than regular point-to-point communication. Our performance measurements with three MPI implementations (IBM MPI, Sun MPI, and LAM) indicate, however, that one-sided communication can perform much worse than point-to-point communication if the associated synchronization calls are not implemented efficiently. In this paper, we describe our efforts to minimize the overhead of synchronization in our implementation of one-sided communication in MPICH-2. We describe our optimizations for all three synchronization mechanisms defined in MPI: fence, post-start-complete-wait, and lock-unlock. Our performance results demonstrate that, for short messages, MPICH-2 performs six times faster than LAM for fence synchronization and 50% faster for post-start-complete-wait synchronization, and it performs more than twice as fast as Sun MPI for all three synchronization methods.
Pairwise perturbation of flagellin subunits: The structural basis for the differences between plain and complex bacterial flagellar filaments☆

Although plain and complex bacterial flagellar filaments differ in their physical properties and helical symmetry, they both appear to derive from a common underlying structure. Analysis of electron micrographs of complex filaments of Rhizobium lupini revealed that the unit cell has twice the length of that of plain filaments, with a corresponding reduction in helical symmetry whereby the six-start helical family present in plain filaments collapses into a three-start family. Mass per unit length measurements were made by scanning transmission electron microscopy. These, together with the unit cell dimensions and the molecular weight of the flagellin monomer, enabled the number of monomers per unit cell to be estimated. Whereas plain filaments have a single monomer per unit cell, complex filaments have two. These results suggest that complex filament structure differs from plain filament structure by a pairwise perturbation, or interaction, of the flagellin monomers. The additional bonding interactions involved in the perturbation in the complex filament may make it more rigid than the plain filament, which has no such perturbation.
Magnetic Field Evolution from Neutron Star Crust Breaking

Spinning-down (or up) neutron star crusts may be stressed beyond their yield strengths by crust neutron superfluid vortex line pinning. Such stresses may then move crustal plates and the magnetic field imbedded in them. Consequences can include continued magnetic moment decrease in dead spinning-down pulsars. Subsequent spin-up (e.g. by accretion from a companion) can lead to a variety of final spin periods and further reduction in magnetic dipole moment depending upon the initial pulsar magnetic field configuration. If the crust stress is relaxed by large scale cracking events these could cause pulsar timing glitches with magnitude and recurrence rates near those observed. In old or dead radio pulsars the sudden releases of stored elastic energy could give bursts of X-ray and gamma-rays whose number, energy, and rise time suggest those of Gamma-Ray Burst sources. The surface magnetic field of a spinning-down crust cracking neutron star may break up into large surface patches which move apart from each other but retain the original surface magnetic field. Pulsar spin-down torque observations would then reflect the decrease in average surface dipole field while the field strength inferred from a cyclotron resonance spectral feature above a platelet would remain high and independent of stellar age.
Narcissistic Self-Enhancement

Narcissists chronically overclaim agentic traits and sacrifice relationships to pursue the prestige and power they crave. This chapter compares conflicting explanations for narcissists' self-aggrandizing style of self-enhancement and considers whether narcissists' impatient self-promotional strategies ultimately restrict their long-term self-enhancement prospects.
International human rights: unintended consequences of the war on terrorism

The article aims at discussing US foreign policy regarding international human rights after September, 11th. The main argument is that humanitarian concerns have been eclipsed by the re-inflation of security concerns in US foreign policy agenda since the terrorist attacks in 2001. Besides, there have been changes in the understanding of security. The definition of security in more ideological terms caused by the war on terror has created a competitive relation between human rights and security interests, retreating the process of change in US foreign policy that had begun after the end of the Cold War. The demonization of enemies and Washington's tendency towards unilateralism favor a vision of "national security" that leaves little (or no) space for international human rights. However, the consequences of the recent changes in US foreign policy are, to a large extent, unintended. This could allow for a potential increase in the human dimension of security concerns, as long as the international scenario changes in the forthcoming years.
Further Studies of Crack Propagation Using the Controlled Crack Propagation Approach

In a previous paper, a new fracture-toughness-measuring technique was presented which made it possible to evaluate the functional relationship between load and cracklength at the moment of crack initiation or arrest. It was demonstrated that this relationship is directly relatable to the strain energy release rate and experimental results were presented for a 7075-T6 aluminum alloy. This paper presents the results of additional exploratory work as the concept is applied to more 7075-T6 aluminum, a 250 grade maraging steel, and AZ31B magnesium plate.
Acute Progressive Multifocal Best's Disease in a 61 -year-old Man

Purpose To report acute progressive multifocal Best's disease in patients in their seventh decade. Method We report one such case. Results We examined a 61-year-old man with strikingly symmetric, 1-disk diameter serous retinal detachments involving each fovea. Fluorescein angiography was unremarkable, with no dye leakage. Electrophysiologic testing confirmed the diagnosis. Visual acuity decreased, and within 1 month, the size and number of lesions rapidly increased. Three months later, the lesions quickly evolved to the classic vitelliform stage. Conclusion This well-documented case expands the spectrum of findings in multifocal Best's disease.