cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the Severity of Aortic Stenosis from the Carotid Pulse Tracing

The morphology of the externally recorded carotid pulse tracing was studied in 33 patients with valvular aortic stenosis for indices of severity. Comparisons were made with 10 normal controls. In aortic stenosis, initial upstroke time (IUT) of the carotid pulse, and left ventricular ejection time index were significantly higher and the rate of rise of the carotid pulse was slower than in the control group. Severity of stenosis (calculated valve area and mean pressure gradient) could not be predicted, however, from any of these indices. The IUT of the carotid pulse did correlate well with mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (mVcf) (r=-0.72). The rate of rise of the carotid pulse had also a correlation with mVcf(r=0.66). However, other commonly used hemodynamic indices (cardiac index, systemic vascular resistance, stroke volume, and ejection fraction) did not have a good correlation with IUT and rate of rise of the carotid pulse. These results suggest that we are able to separate by carotid pulse tracings aortic stenosis from normal subjects, but we cannot say what is the degree of severity of aortic stenosis from analysis of the external carotid pulse recording.
A comparison of persons who present for preemptive and nonpreemptive kidney transplantation.

Abstract Background: Preemptive renal transplantation (PRT) has been associated with improved allograft and patient survival rates and requires that the medical evaluation for suitability for transplantation occurs before the initiation of maintenance dialysis. The aim of this study was to understand the factors associated with the timing of evaluation for renal transplantation relative to the initiation of dialysis. Methods: In a prospective study, patients who presented to the Renal Transplant Evaluation Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania completed a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Of the 290 patients included in the analysis, 44.5% were not yet on dialysis. Non—dialysis-dependent persons had seen a nephrologist for a mean of 71.0 ± 84.7 months before transplant evaluation, whereas persons who presented for nonpreemptive evaluation reported first seeing a nephrologist a mean of 25.0 ± 42.8 months before dialysis initiation ( P P = 0.01). The odds of nonpreemptive evaluation were decreased for every additional 3 months of chronic renal disease care by a nephrologist (adjusted OR, 0.96; P P = 0.03). Conclusion: There is substantial opportunity for transplant evaluation before dialysis initiation that is not capitalized on and is affected by the duration of care provided by a nephrologist and the type of potential living donor.
Geographical variation in postzygotic isolation and its genetic basis within and between two Mimulus species

The aim of this study is to investigate the evolution of intrinsic postzygotic isolation within and between populations of Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus nasutus. We made 17 intraspecific and interspecific crosses, across a wide geographical scale. We examined the seed germination success and pollen fertility of reciprocal F1 and F2 hybrids and their pure-species parents, and used biometrical genetic tests to distinguish among alternative models of inheritance. Hybrid seed inviability was sporadic in both interspecific and intraspecific crosses. For several crosses, Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibilities involving nuclear genes were implicated, while two interspecific crosses revealed evidence of cytonuclear interactions. Reduced hybrid pollen fertility was found to be greatly influenced by Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibilities in five out of six intraspecific crosses and nine out of 11 interspecific crosses. Cytonuclear incompatibilities reduced hybrid fitness in only one intraspecific and one interspecific cross. This study suggests that intrinsic postzygotic isolation is common in hybrids between these Mimulus species, yet the particular hybrid incompatibilities responsible for effecting this isolation differ among the populations tested. Hence, we conclude that they evolve and spread only at the local scale.
The influence of temporally variable predation risk on indirect interactions in an aquatic food chain

We know little about how temporally variable predation risk influences prey behavior. The risk allocation hypothesis predicts that prey facing more frequent risk should show weak anti-predator responses, and should be particularly active foragers during rare periods of safety, compared to prey facing infrequent risk. Several studies offer support for the risk allocation hypothesis, but how these responses might propagate through the larger ecological community remains largely unknown. We experimentally investigated the relative strength of trait- and density-mediated indirect effects of a predator on its prey’s resource across predation treatments that varied the lethality (caged or free-swimming predators) and temporal variability (always, often, or sometimes present) of predation. We performed this experiment in pond mesocosms using a giant water bug predator (Belostoma lutarium), an herbivorous pond snail (Physa gyrina), and algae as the basal resource. Snails greatly reduced the abundance of their algal resource when in the absence of predation. Lethal predation at low and medium intensities had significant positive indirect effects on the abundance of algae, mostly by reducing snail density. Snails responded behaviorally to high levels of deadly predation by foraging more and hiding less than in other situations, as predicted by the risk allocation hypothesis, and thus ameliorated the density-mediated indirect effects of predators on algae. Behavioral responses to caged predators, and the subsequent trait-mediated indirect effects, were negligible regardless of predation intensity. Our previous work has demonstrated that trait-mediated indirect effects are weak when resources are abundant, as they were in this experiment. This work demonstrates that temporal variation in predation intensity plays a key role in determining the relative strength of TMIIs and DMIIs in an aquatic food chain.
Reperfusion times and in-hospital outcomes among patients with an isolated posterior myocardial infarction: insights from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR).

Background A posterior myocardial infarction (PMI) is associated with significant morbidity and delays in recognition may prevent the timely revascularization of these patients. The present study sought to evaluate the reperfusion times and in-hospital outcomes among patients with an isolated PMI. Methods Clinical characteristics and reperfusion times were compared between those with an isolated PMI and those with all other ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMI) in the NCDR ACTION-GWTG Registry from 2007 to 2012. Logistic generalized estimating equations were used to examine risk-adjusted mortality. Results Among 117,739 subjects with a STEMI, 824 (0.7%) had evidence of an isolated PMI. The median time between patient arrival and initial electrocardiogram was similar between those with an isolated PMI and those with a non-PMI STEMI (6 vs. 6 minutes, P = .48). However, the median time from initial electrocardiogram to percutaneous coronary intervention was significantly longer among subjects with a PMI (69 vs 61 minutes, P P Conclusion The door-to-balloon times are significantly longer for those with an isolated PMI resulting in fewer patients receiving reperfusion within the guideline recommended time period. Ongoing educational initiatives to increase recognition of a PMI are needed to improve the reperfusion times and outcomes associated with this condition.
Analysis of the Organic Portion of Dental Calculus

SYNOPSIS IN INTERLINGUAANALYSE DEL PORTION ORGANIC DE CALCULO DENTAL.—Specimens de composite e de separate calculos supra- e subgingival e de calculos ab dentaturas esseva decalcificate per le uso de 0,1 N de HCl e de un solution de 15 pro cento de tetraacetato ethylenediaminic a un pH de 7,0 a 7,5. Analyses chromatographic del hydrolysatos acide monstra que le mesme amino-acidos compone le portion proteinic del calculos supragingival como del calculos subgingival. Le aminoacidos trovate in mucina precipitate es simile a illos presente in calculos salivari. Le fraction carbohydratic del matrice organic del calculos esseva studiate per chromatographia a papiro. Galactosa, glucosa, mannosa, rhamnosa, e fucosa esseva detegite. In plus, il pare esser presente un hexosamina, un deoxy-sucro, e un acido sialic.
Morphological taxonomy, DNA barcoding, and species diversity in southern Rocky Mountain headwater streams

AbstractElevation gradients allow scientists to observe changes in fauna over a range of abiotic conditions. A variety of trends in aquatic insect diversity patterns across elevation have been reported. However, many of these studies are confounded because they include streams at lower elevations, which are often larger in size and more polluted than their higher-elevation counterparts. Moreover, such studies always relied solely on morphological delineation of taxa, thereby potentially overlooking cryptic diversity. We reduced these limitations by sampling only minimally impacted wadeable streams across an elevation gradient and by combining morphological taxonomy with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) barcoding to identify taxa. We collected numerically abundant Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) from single streams at ∼200-m elevation intervals across >1000-m transects in 3 watersheds draining the eastern slope of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Based on morphology alone, we identified 49 numeric...
Cultures of Participation and Social Computing: Rethinking and Reinventing Learning and Education

The rise in social computing (based on social production and mass collaboration) has facilitated a shift from consumer cultures grounded in an industrialized information economy (specialized in producing finished goods to be consumed passively) to cultures of participation in a networked information economy (in which all people are provided with the means to participate actively in personally meaningful problems). These developments represent unique and fundamental opportunities and challenges for rethinking and reinventing learning and education. Our research in the Center for LifeLong Learning & Design (L3D) explores theoretical foundations such as meta-design and social creativity and designs, develops, and assesses socio-technical environments for this transformation.
Derivation of Secure Parallel Applications by Means of Module Embedding

An enhancement to modular languages called module embedding facilitates the development and utilization of secure generic parallel algorithms.
Response Surface Equations for Expendable Launch Vehicle Payload Mass Capability

Systems analysis and conceptual design for new spacecraft commonly require the capability to perform rapid, parametric assessments of launch vehicle options. Such assessments allow engineers to incorporate launch vehicle considerations in first-order cost, mass, and orbit performance trades early during conceptual design and development phases. This paper demonstrates an efficient approach to la unch vehicle analysis and selection using response surface equations (RSEs) derived directly from launch vehicle payload planner’s guides. These RSEs model payload capability as a f unction of circular orbit altitude and inclination. Following presentation of the RSE fit ting method and statistical goodness of fit tests, the RSE and model fit error statistics for t he Pegasus XL are derived and presented as an example. In total, 43 RSEs are derived for the following launch vehicles and their derivatives: Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur, and Falcon series as well as the Delta IV, Atlas V, and the foreign Ariane and Soyuz vehicles. Ranges of validity and model fit error statistics with respect to the original planner’s guide data a re provided for each of the 43 fits. Across all launch vehicles fit, the resulting RSEs have a maximum 90 th percentile model fit error of 4.39% and a mean 90 th percentile model fit error of 0.97%. In addition, of the 43 RSEs, the lowest R≤ value is 0.9715 and the mean is 0.9961. As a result, these equations are sufficiently accurate and well-suited for use in conceptual desi gn trades. Examples of such trades are provided, including demonstrations using the RSEs to (1) select a launch vehicle given an orbit inclination and altitude, (2) visualize orbit altitude and inclination constraints given a spacecraft mass, and (3) calculate the sensitivity of orbital parameters to mass growth. Suited for a variety of applications, the set of RS Es provides a tool to the aerospace engineer allowing efficient, informed launch option trades a nd decisions early during design.
Authentic Leadership Practical Reflexivity, Self-Awareness, and Self-Authorship

This assignment provides a process to facilitate student engagement in practical reflexivity and self-authorship through which students develop the self-awareness that is required to be an authentic and effective leader. It facilitates the development of students’ personal leadership principles, which help guide their decision making and actions, and provides criteria on which to evaluate their leadership effectiveness. This facilitation of the development of students’ personal leadership principles is accomplished by having students first identify and clarify their values and beliefs and to consider the impact of these on their day-to-day organizational lives and leadership. By explicitly defining themselves in the form of their values and beliefs, students have a clear sense of self on which to base their authentic leadership. Their beliefs are expressed in the form of self-narratives. These self-narratives are shared as audio recordings with fellow classmates to facilitate students’ learning, self-unde...
Discrete temporal models of social networks

We propose a family of statistical models for social network evolution over time, which represents an extension of Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs). Many of the methods for ERGMs are readily adapted for these models, including MCMC maximum likelihood estimation algorithms. We discuss models of this type and give examples, as well as a demonstration of their use for hypothesis testing and classification.
El humor en la narrativa de Feliciano de Silva: en el camino hacia Cervantes

El humor es un motivo que permite establecer una estrecharelacion entre los libros de caballerias y el Quijote. Mas concretamente,a traves del estudio de la narrativa caballeresca de Felicianode Silva se consideran algunos aspectos que pudieron servir dep
Assessing Risks of Plant-Based Pharmaceuticals: II. Non-Target Organism Exposure

ABSTRACT Plant-based pharmaceuticals potentially offer a cleaner method of producing a protein for drug manufacturing than traditional methods because plants are free of mammalian infectious agents. However, in the open environment they have the potential for intra-and inter-species gene flow, protein exposure to the public and non-target organisms, and they also have the potential to contaminate livestock feed. This study used probabilistic approaches to quantify the non-target organism risks associated with three pharmaceutical proteins produced in field-grown maize. The risk assessment for plant-based pharmaceuticals was conducted for four receptor species used as surrogates for a wider range of species. Body weights and maize consumption rates for each species were modeled from currently available information and used to calculate the exposure based on expression levels of three proteins. The acute dietary exposure for the receptor species was a single-day event in which the total maize consumption ca...
The Revised Atlanta Classification of Acute Pancreatitis: Its Importance for the Radiologist and Its Effect on Treatment

An international working group has modified the Atlanta classification for acute pancreatitis to update the terminology and provide simple functional clinical and morphologic classifications. The modifications (a) address the clinical course and severity of disease, (b) divide acute pancreatitis into interstitial edematous pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis, (c) distinguish an early phase (1st week) and a late phase (after the 1st week), and (d) emphasize systemic inflammatory response syndrome and multisystem organ failure. In the 1st week, only clinical parameters are important for treatment planning. After the 1st week, morphologic criteria defined on the basis of computed tomographic findings are combined with clinical parameters to help determine care. This revised classification introduces new terminology for pancreatic fluid collections. Depending on presence or absence of necrosis, acute collections in the first 4 weeks are called acute necrotic collections or acute peripancreatic fluid collections. Once an enhancing capsule develops, persistent acute peripancreatic fluid collections are referred to as pseudocysts; and acute necrotic collections, as walled-off necroses. All can be sterile or infected. Terms such as pancreatic abscess and intrapancreatic pseudocyst have been abandoned. The goal is for radiologists, gastroenterologists, surgeons, and pathologists to use the revised classifications to standardize imaging terminology to facilitate treatment planning and enable precise comparison of results among different departments and institutions.
Last days in the old radiation laboratory (ORL), Berkeley, California, 1954

Govindjee, the founding editor of the Historical Corner of Photosynthesis Research, invited me 3 years ago to tell the story of why I left Melvin Calvin’s laboratory in the mid 1950s long before the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Calvin for the path of carbon in photosynthesis. I have already written my scientific perspective on this topic (see Benson (Photosynth Res 73:29–49, 2002); also see Bassham (Photosynth Res 76:35–52, 2003) as he was also a major player in this research). Here, I present my recollections of my last days in the old radiation laboratory (ORL) at Berkeley, California. References have been added by Govindjee for the benefit of the readers.
Angular sliced Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams to increase the channel number in spatial-mode multiplexed system

An angular sliced LG beam rotates +90 or −90 degree and maintains the fan shape and spiral phase in the far field. It enables a new scheme of spatial-mode division multiplexing system in free space communication.
Glucose production in glycogen storage disease I is not associated with increased cycling through hepatic glycogen

Children with glycogen storage disease type I (GSD I) lack the ability to convert glucose 6-phosphate to glucose and yet are able to produce glucose endogenously. To test the hypothesis that the source of this glucose is increased cycling of glucose moieties through hepatic glycogen, six children with GSD I were studied on two occasions during which they received enteral glucose for 6 h at 35 or 50 mumol.kg-1.min-1 along with [6,6-2H2]glucose to measure plasma glucose flux and [1-13C]galactose to label intrahepatic uridyl diphosphate (UDP)-glucose. After 3 h, acetaminophen was given to estimate UDP-glucose flux (reflecting the rate of glycogen synthesis). Mean steady-state plasma glucose concentrations (4.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 5.8 +/- 0.1 mM) and total flux (34.8 +/- 1.7 vs. 47.5 +/- 2.0 mumol.kg-1.min-1) were increased (P < 0.05 or better) on the high-infusion day. Endogenous glucose production was detectable only on the low-infusion day (2.0 +/- 0.5 mumol.kg-1.min-1). UDP-glucose flux was increased (P < 0.05) on the high-infusion day (25.8 +/- 1.6 vs. 34.7 +/- 4.1), ruling out cycling of glucose moieties through glycogen with release of glucose by debrancher enzyme as the source of glucose production.
Management options after prophylactic surgeries in women with BRCA mutations: a review.

BackgroundAlthough breast cancer is relatively common, only about 5% of cases are due to inheritance of highly penetrant cancer susceptibility genes. The majority of these are caused by mutations i...
Fire effects on invasive and native warm‐season grass species in a North American grassland at a time of extreme drought

Question Can the timing of cutting or burning be used to selectively damage an invasive C4 grass species while limiting collateral damage to dominant native C4 grass species in a grassland community? Location A medium to short grass prairie in central Texas, US. Methods We conducted six cut and burn trials between June 2011 and January 2012 during an exceptional drought year. Target species were the native, perennial, C4 grass Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem) and the introduced, perennial, C4 grass Bothriochloa ischaemum (yellow bluestem). Burn trials were conducted inside a steel barrel using standardized fuel loads. To assess recovery, we counted the first cohort of new tillers that emerged after treatment and tillers that grew in the subsequent spring. We also recorded phenological status, meteorological variables and burn temperatures to determine if tiller recovery was predictable. Results Bothriochloa ischaemum responded more negatively to burning than to cutting, but these treatments were no different for S. scoparium. Both species produced the smallest number of tillers after the summer burns, and the burn date × species interaction was insignificant. On average, peak fire temperature inside tussocks was 100 °C higher in B. ischaemum than in S. scoparium. Judging from the reduction in tiller densities in undisturbed plots from spring 2011 to spring 2012, B. ischaemum was also more sensitive to drought. Multivariate models were significant and related burn recovery to peak fire temperature, among other factors, and recovery from cutting to ambient temperature on the day of cutting. In B. ischaemum, plants with higher investment in early reproductive growth suffered more burn damage. Conclusions We identified no optimal burn time that maximized discrimination between the two species. Nonetheless, the invasive species was more sensitive to both drought and fire, possibly due to higher heat exposure of growing points. Thus, burning during the summer of a drought year may constitute the sought-after treatment that selectively favours native species. Ultimately, successful management will involve fuel and temperature management combined with assessment of the relative phenologies of the target species prior to burning. This study suggests that a hot fire at a time when the invasive species has a larger investment in early reproductive growth will provide the best control.
Family Factors and Fat Consumption of College Students

Abstract Although the family unit influences eating practices of college students, family issues have received little attention. Students (305) in an Introductory Nutrition Class recorded and calculated average daily fat intake and % energy from fat from 3-day Dietary Records. They responded to 36 questions describing food and family activities. A factor analysis of these attributes resulted in eight factors. Four factors pertained to personal characteristics: 1. Food and Weight Concerns; 2. Enjoy High Fat Foods; 3. Eager Eaters; and 4. Interest in Vegetables and New Foods; and four factors pertained to family milieu: 5. Encourages Food Activities; 6. Involvement in Food Activities; 7. Criticizes Food Decisions; and 8. Health and Social Networks. Only two personal factors were related to fat intake: 1. Food and Weight Concerns and 2. Enjoy High Fat Foods. Two-way ANOVA's indicated little possibility of sex-factor interactions. Cluster analysis based on personal factors indicated that students in Clusters 1 and 2 with low-fat intakes (35–49g, 19–21 % kcal) who rank high or moderate on Factor 1 (Food and Weight Concerns) and low on Factor 2 (Fat Food Enjoyment) are further distinguished by high scores on Factor 3 (Eating Eagerness); Factor 4 (Interest in Vegetables and New Foods); and Factor 7 (Family Criticism). Less critical families tended to have children with higher fat intakes. Factor 8 (Health and Social Networks) includes wellness indicators (health care, exercise) and social indicators (clubs, eating together). In summary, study findings suggest that 1.) Cohesive families as measured by Factors 5 and 6 (Encouraging and Involvement in Activities) do not have dietary information relevant to the fat constraints outlined in the Dietary Guidelines; 2.) Critical families are conveying weight loss messages to daughters for thinness; and 3.) Family Nutrition Networks appear to be mixing health messages with social messages. These outcomes provide dietitians with suggestions for nutrition education contents on beliefs and practices of college students and indicate the influence of the family unit on fat intake of college students.
Deriving phrase-based language models

Phrase-based language models have grown in popularity since they allow the speech recognition process to make use of more context in recognizing the words. Previous approaches have used perplexity reduction to identify groups of words to be linked into phrases and have used these phrases as the basis for computing the language model probabilities. In this paper, we argue that perplexity reduction is only one of three aspects to be considered in choosing the phrases. We also argue that the chosen phrases should not be the basis for computing the language model probabilities. Rather, the probabilities should be derived from a language model built at the lexical level.
Precise identification of problems for structural test generation

An important goal of software testing is to achieve at least high structural coverage. To reduce the manual efforts of producing such high-covering test inputs, testers or developers can employ tools built based on automated structural test-generation approaches. Although these tools can easily achieve high structural coverage for simple programs, when they are applied on complex programs in practice, these tools face various problems, such as (1) the external-method-call problem (EMCP), where tools cannot deal with method calls to external libraries; (2) the object-creation problem (OCP), where tools fails to generate method-call sequences to produce desirable object states. Since these tools currently could not be powerful enough to deal with these problems in testing complex programs in practice, we propose cooperative developer testing, where developers provide guidance to help tools achieve higher structural coverage. To reduce the efforts of developers in providing guidance to tools, in this paper, we propose a novel approach, called Covana, which precisely identifies and reports problems that prevent the tools from achieving high structural coverage primarily by determining whether branch statements containing notcovered branches have data dependencies on problem candidates. We provide two techniques to instantiate Covana to identify EMCPs and OCPs. Finally, we conduct evaluations on two open source projects to show the effectiveness of Covana in identifying EMCPs and OCPs.
ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF TRYPTOPHAN PHOTOPRODUCTS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF TRYPTOPHAN EXPOSED TO NEAR-UV LIGHT*

Abstract—One of the previously unidentified photoproducts isolated from the photolysate of aqueous tryptophan solutions was identified as 2-carboxy-3a-hydroxy-1,2,3,3a,8,8a-hexahydropyrrolo(2,3b)-indole by direct comparison with the authentic reference compound synthesized using the established procedure. This pyrroloindole alcohol has been shown to be the reduction product of the 3a-hydroperoxy intermediate (structure 4 in Fig. 1) by Nakagawa et al. (1977). The isolation and identification of this derivative and the detection of the peroxy intermediate 3a-hydroperoxypyrrolidinoindole (4). from irradiated aqueous tryptophan solutions suggests that the direct photooxidation of l-tryptophan to fromylkynurenine may follow a pathway via a tricyclic intermediate instead of the energetically unfavorable dioxotane intermediate. This scheme is similar to the mechanistic model proposed by Nakagawa et al. (1977) for the rose bengal sensitized photooxidation of tryptophan.
Fruits, Fingers, and Fermentation: The Sensory Cues Available to Foraging Primates

Survival and reproductive success hinge on the perception of environmental stimuli. In this regard, foraging efficiency depends on discerning predictive signals in food. A widespread occurrence of ethanol in fruits indicates a sustained historical exposure of frugivores to this compound. Accordingly, Dudley (2000, Quart. Rev. Biol. 75:3-15) proposed that ethanol could represent a prominent sensory cue to primates because of direct and indirectly associated caloric and physiological rewards. However, little is known regarding the extent to which ethanol correlates with such parameters. This information is essential to estimating the importance of detecting and detoxifying ethanol in fruits. Here I present a preliminary analysis of fruits from Southeast Asia; low levels of ethanol were present in fruits of all developmental stages (range: 0.005-0.48%). Moreover, ethanol correlated positively with concentrations of soluble sugars, suggesting that it could be a valuable foraging cue. Recent findings on the sensitivity of primate olfaction and gustation to ethanol are consistent with this notion. However, when primates smell fruits deliberately, it often occurs together with digital and/or dental evaluation of texture. Here I show that softening texture also characterizes the fruit ripening process, and that color is of ambiguous importance to primates possessing trichromatic vision. I discuss the relevance of these findings to the origins of primates and the ecology of key sensory systems and deduce that detecting and selecting fruits on the basis of cues other than color is a persistent theme in primate evolution. Ethanol has likely played a significant and underestimated role in the regulation of primate foraging behavior.
Selective Hydrogenation of Unsaturated Carbon–Carbon Bonds in Aromatic-Containing Platform Molecules

The combination of chemical and biological catalysis enables the production from biomass of coumarin and dihydrocoumarin (DHC), opening new routes to the formation of fine chemicals and pharmaceutical building blocks. Each of these products requires the hydrogenation of 4-hydroxycoumarin (4HC) to 4-hydroxydihydrocoumarin (4HDHC), which, in turn, requires the reduction of an unsaturated C–C bond in the presence of an aromatic ring. Using in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, we show that reaction at 348 K over monometallic Pd catalysts leads to the partial reduction of the aromatic ring in 4HC, obtaining 93% selectivity for C═C bond hydrogenation at 82% 4HC conversion and with a low turnover frequency (TOF). Decreasing the Pd dispersion from 70% to 6% not only leads to an increase in the rate of 4HC hydrogenation, but it also leads to an increase in the rate of overhydrogenation. However, the formation of bimetallic PdAu nanoparticles inhibits the overhydro...
Water Dissociation at the GaN(101̅0) Surface: Structure, Dynamics and Surface Acidity

Pure GaN is known to show a very high photocatalytic water oxidation activity in the UV range. Recently Shen et al. [J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 13695] have proposed a sequence of intermediate steps for the water oxidation process at the GaN(1010) GaN/water interface. In this contribution we show that when spontaneous water dissociation occurs, the acidity of the surface can be accurately computed using first principles molecular dynamics simulations. The electronic structure analysis of the adsorbed water and hydroxyl groups shows large differences between GaN and the well studied photocatalyst TiO2. On the basis of our results we argue that the search for efficient photocatalytic materials needs to take into account the water dissociation activity of candidate material surfaces.
CORRELATES OF JOB SATISFACTION: SOME EVIDENCE FROM THE NATIONAL SURVEYS

The article presents a synthesis of correlation studies of job satisfaction in the U.S. Although there is a positive relationship between income and job satisfaction, there apparently is a stronger...
Glucuronidase activity in intestinal contents of rat and man and relationship to bacterial flora.

SummaryBacterial type β-glucuronidase activity is absent in human feces at birth and increases in human and rat feces with age. In rats there is an association of glucuronidase activity with increases in anaerobic flora. Antibiotics which reduce the anaerobic flora eliminate enzyme activity from rat cecal content in vivo and in cultures. Gross cultures of rat cecal content produce glucuronidase only under anaerobic conditions and enzyme production rapidly diminishes in the absence of substrate (glucuronide). Isolation of individual organisms that released glucuronidase into the media was difficult and required maintenance of strict anaerobic conditions and substrate in the media. A variety of anaerobes were found to produce the enzyme.
Predicting and preventing readmissions in kidney transplant recipients

A lack of research exploring post-transplant process optimization to reduce readmissions and increasing readmission rates at our center from 2009 to 2013 led to this study, aimed at assessing the effect of patient and process factors on 30-d readmission rates after kidney transplantation. This was a retrospective case-control study in adult kidney transplant recipients. Univariate and multivariate analyses were utilized to assess patient and process determinants of 30-d readmissions. 384 patients were included; 30-d readmissions were significantly associated with graft loss and death (p = 0.001). Diabetes (p = 0.049), pharmacist identification of poor understanding or adherence, and prolonged time on hemodialysis prior to transplant were associated with an increased risk of 30-d readmissions. After controlling for risk factors, readmission rates were only independently predicted by pharmacist identification of patient lack of understanding or adherence regarding post-transplant medications and dialysis exposure for more than three yr (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.10-4.71, p = 0.026 and OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.22, 3.70, respectively), both of which were significantly modified by history of diabetes. Thirty-d readmissions are attributable to both patient and process-level factors. These data suggest that a lack of post-transplant medication knowledge in high-risk patients drives early hospital readmission.
Analysis on the Drug-resistant of 69 cases with Smear-positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Ma' anshan City in 2007

Objective To study the tuberculosis drug resistance in Ma'anshan city and provide scientific evidence for tuberculosis control.Methods All the smear-positive patients visiting TB clinics on April 1st,2007 in Ma'anshan,no matter initial patients or not,were registered and investigated,Sputum Specimens of the cases were collected to carry out bacterial culture and drug sensitivity test.Results There were 12 drug-resistance patients in 67 smear-positive of smear-positive cases patients and the percentage of drug resistance was 17.91%.There were 8 drug-resistance patients in 50 initial smear-positive patients and the percentage of drug resistance was 16%.There were 4 drug-resistance patients in 17 retreatment smear-positive patients and the percentage of drug resistance was 23.53%.Conclusion The tuberculosis drug resistance of smear-positive cases in Ma'anshan city was lower than the national average level.The treatment and management for the key cas-population should be strengthened to prevent the occurrence of drug-resistance patients.
Surveillance and analysis of food-borne pathogens in Pingliang in 2012

Objective To survey pollution status of food-borne pathogens in Pingliang City of Gansu Province and provide scientific basis for disease control.Methods A total of 260 samples of foods were aseptically collected regularly and examined for the presence of the food-borne pathogens in 2012 according to the national regulation and standard.Results Totally 405 samples were collected.Pathogens were detected from 15 samples with total detection rate of 3.70%.The highest detection rate was Bacillus cereus of 17.78%.Out of the seven major foods,baby food was the severest polluted with the positive rate of 17.78%.The highest detection rate was 25.00% for street food.No pathogens were detected for in foods collected from the medium-sized restaurants,noshery and canteens.The detection rate was 1.97% for bulk food and 16.00% for stereotypes packaged food.Conclusions Foods in Pingliang are heavily polluted by food-borne pathogens,mainly in small restaurants,farming markets,convenience stores,and street food,cooked meat and rice,noodle,Liangpi class food with Staphylococcus aureus contamination.
Rodolfo's Casa Caribe in Cuba: Business, Ethical & Legal Challenges of Investing in a Start-Up in Havana

Business, ethical, and legal challenges of starting-up and investing in a top-rated hospitality business in Cuba are investigated. This is a case study of Cuban entrepreneur’s experience and the options of an America n friend whom he has invited to invest. It is ready-to-use in a classroom for debating business, ethical, and legal questions. Teaching notes offer generalizable lessons and guidance on navigating U.S. and Cuban law and an ethical reasoning framework related to PRME Principles. The content on law and ethics could inform further research on whether and how Americans can invest in markets restricted by rapidly evolving sanctions regimes.
A Benefit of Thinking Like a Robot

Picture a scenario in the not too distant future where home assistant robots provide social support such as engaging people in conflict reappraisal practices in the event of emotional conflicts. What should the robot say and/or do to effectively help people regulate emotions and navigate interpersonal conflicts? To begin to answer this question, this survey-based experiment investigated the anger reduction effects of conflict reappraisal from a robot third-party perspective. Results showed that reappraisal from a robot third-party perspective reduced anger relative to rumination, and shed light on how people's conceptions of a robot third-party perspective differed from that of a human third-party perspective.
Structure-Based Design of a Soluble Prefusion-Closed HIV-1 Env Trimer with Reduced CD4 Affinity and Improved Immunogenicity.

ABSTRACT The HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer is a target for vaccine design as well as a conformational machine that facilitates virus entry by transitioning between prefusion-closed, CD4-bound, and coreceptor-bound conformations by transitioning into a postfusion state. Vaccine designers have sought to restrict the conformation of the HIV-1 Env trimer to its prefusion-closed state as this state is recognized by most broadly neutralizing, but not nonneutralizing, antibodies. We previously identified a disulfide bond, I201C-A433C (DS), which stabilizes Env in the vaccine-desired prefusion-closed state. When placed into the context of BG505 SOSIP.664, a soluble Env trimer mimic developed by Sanders, Moore, and colleagues, the engineered DS-SOSIP trimer showed reduced conformational triggering by CD4. Here, we further stabilize DS-SOSIP through a combination of structure-based design and 96-well-based expression and antigenic assessment. From 103 designs, we identified one, named DS-SOSIP.4mut, with four additional mutations at the interface of potentially mobile domains of the prefusion-closed structure. We also determined the crystal structures of DS-SOSIP.4mut at 4.1-A resolution and of an additional DS-SOSIP.6mut variant at 4.3-A resolution, and these confirmed the formation of engineered disulfide bonds. Notably, DS-SOSIP.4mut elicited a higher ratio of tier 2 autologous titers versus tier 1 V3-sensitive titers than BG505 SOSIP.664. DS-SOSIP.4mut also showed reduced recognition of CD4 and increased thermostability. The improved antigenicity, thermostability, and immunogenicity of DS-SOSIP.4mut suggest utility as an immunogen or a serologic probe; moreover, the specific four alterations identified here, M154, M300, M302, and L320 (4mut), can also be transferred to other HIV-1 Env trimers of interest to improve their properties. IMPORTANCE One approach to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1 is to stabilize the structurally flexible HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer in a conformation that displays predominantly broadly neutralizing epitopes and few to no nonneutralizing epitopes. The prefusion-closed conformation of HIV-1 Env has been identified as one such preferred conformation, and a current leading vaccine candidate is the BG505 DS-SOSIP variant, comprising two disulfides and an Ile-to-Pro mutation of Env from strain BG505. Here, we introduced additional mutations to further stabilize BG505 DS-SOSIP in the vaccine-preferred prefusion-closed conformation. In guinea pigs, our best mutant, DS-SOSIP.4mut, elicited a significantly higher ratio of autologous versus V3-directed neutralizing antibody responses than the SOSIP-stabilized form. We also observed an improvement in thermostability and a reduction in CD4 affinity. With improved antigenicity, stability, and immunogenicity, DS-SOSIP.4mut-stabilized trimers may have utility as HIV-1 immunogens or in other antigen-specific contexts, such as with B-cell probes.
Response to Cyclophosphamide Therapy in Saudi Children with Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome

Thirty-three children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome received an eight-week course of 2.5 to 3.0 mg/kg of body weight of cyclophosphamide. Twenty-five (76%) were in remission 12 to 28 months la...
The Intersection of Groundwater Contamination and Human Health: Summary of an Interdisciplinary Conference

Some characteristics of karst aquifers make them particularly susceptible to contamination. The reliance on groundwater for drinking supplies in karst regions creates the potential for public health effects. Elucidating potential human exposure and health effects requires an unexploited multidisciplinary approach that was the focus of this conference. Diverse perspectives on the hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology of karst systems, contaminant transport, exposure concentrations and human health, and regulatory approaches bring us closer to our goal of protecting human health. Summaries of the keynote and research talks are given here. Group discussions are reported as conclusions and recommendations from the conference. New investigative tools, improved quantitative approaches, innovative data analysis, and true multidisciplinary studies are necessary to advance knowledge in this field.
Peace Corps dental program

The Peace Corps attempts to preserve the dental health of its Volunteer trainees. During the orientation period, the trainee becomes acquainted with oral health hazards that he may encounter while overseas and is given on oral hygiene kit to aid him in the dental health care programe.
Melody: synthesized datasets for evaluating intrusion detection systems for the smart grid

As smart grid systems become increasingly reliant on networks of control devices, attacks on their inherent security vulnerabilities could lead to catastrophic system failures. Network Intrusion Detection Systems(NIDS) detect such attacks by learning traffic patterns and finding anomalies in them. However, availability of data for robust training and evaluation of NIDS is rare due to associated operational and security risks of sharing such data. Consequently, we present Melody, a scalable framework for synthesizing such datasets. Melody models both, the cyber and physical components of the smart grid by integrating a simulated physical network with an emulated cyber network while using virtual time for high temporal fidelity. We present a systematic approach to generate traffic representing multi-stage attacks, where each stage is either emulated or recreated with a mechanism to replay arbitrary packet traces. We describe and evaluate the suitability of Melodys datasets for intrusion detection, by analyzing the extent to which temporal accuracy of pertinent features is maintained.
An Explicit Strategy to Scaffold Novice Program Tracing

We propose and evaluate a lightweight strategy for tracing code that can be efficiently taught to novice programmers, building off of recent findings on "sketching" when tracing. This strategy helps novices apply the syntactic and semantic knowledge they are learning by encouraging line-by-line tracing and providing an external representation of memory for them to update. To evaluate the effect of teaching this strategy, we conducted a block-randomized experiment with 24 novices enrolled in a university-level CS1 course. We spent only 5-10 minutes introducing the strategy to the experimental condition. We then asked both conditions to think-aloud as they predicted the output of short programs. Students using this strategy scored on average 15% higher than students in the control group for the tracing problems used the study (p
A Review of Pre-Intervention Prognostic Scores for Early Prognostication and Patient Selection in Endovascular Management of Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke.

Background Endovascular therapy (ET) has emerged as a highly effective treatment for acute large vessel occlusion stroke (LVOS). Tools that facilitate optimal patient selection of patients for ET are needed in order to maximize therapeutic benefit in a cost-effective manner. Several pre-intervention prognostic scores for prediction of outcomes in LVOS patients and patient selection for ET have been developed and validated, but their clinical use has been limited. Here, we review existing pre-intervention prognostic scores, compare their prognostic accuracies and levels of validation and identify gaps in current knowledge. Summary We have reviewed published literature pertinent to development, validation, and implementation of pre-intervention prognostic scores for LVOS. Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the prognostic accuracies of validated pre-interventional scores (Pittsburgh Response to Endovascular therapy [PRE], Totaled Health Risks in Vascular Events [THRIVE], Houston Intra-Arterial Therapy-2 (HIAT-2), Stroke Prognostication using Age and NIHSS [SPAN-100]) were compared in published work. Pre-intervention scores predicted functional out comes at 3 months with moderate prognostic accuracies (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve range 0.68-0.73). Using successful reperfusion (mTICI 2B/3) as the therapeutic objective of ET and 3-month modified Rankin Score 0-2 as good clinical outcome, patients most likely to clinically benefit from endovascular reperfusion can be identified using the PRE and HIAT-2 scores. Scores that incorporate collateral imaging or perfusion-based estimation of core and penumbra have not been published. Existing scores are predominantly limited to anterior circulation LVOS, and implementation studies of pre-interventional scores are lacking. Key messages Pre-intervention prognostic scores can serve as useful adjuncts for patient selection in ET for acute LVOS. Pre-intervention scores including HIAT-2, THRIVE, SPAN-100, and PRE have comparable moderate prognostic accuracies for good 3-month outcomes and can identify patients who derive maximal benefit from successful reperfusion. Improvements in prognostic accuracy may be achieved by incorporating variables such as collateral status and perfusion imaging data. Implementation and impact studies using pre-intervention scores are needed to guide clinical application.