cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of incremental amounts of fish oil on trans fatty acids and Butyrivibrio bacteria in continuous culture fermenters

Summary Previous studies have shown that adding fish oil (FO) to ruminant animal diets increased vaccenic acid (VA; t11 C18:1) accumulation in the rumen. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary FO amounts on selected strains of rumen bacteria involved in biohydrogenation. A single-flow continuous culture system consisting of four fermenters was used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design with four 9 days consecutive periods. Treatment diets were as follows: (i) control diet (53:47 forage to concentrate; CON), (ii) control plus FO at 0.5% (DM basis; FOL), (iii) control plus FO at 2% (DM basis; FOM) and (iv) control plus FO at 3.5% (DM basis; FOH). Fermenters were fed treatment diets three times daily at 120 g/day. Samples were collected from each fermenter on day 9 of each period at 1.5, 3 and 6 h post-morning feeding and then composited into one sample per fermenter. Increasing dietary FO amounts resulted in a linear decrease in acetate and isobutyrate concentrations and a linear decrease in acetate-to-propionate ratio. Propionate, butyrate, valerate and isovalerate concentrations were not affected by FO supplementation. Concentrations of C18:0 in fermenters linearly decreased, while concentrations of t10 C18:1 and VA linearly increased as dietary FO amounts increased. The concentrations of c9t11 and t10c12 conjugated linoleic acid were not affected by FO supplementation. The DNA abundance for Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Butyrivibrio vaccenic acid subgroup, Butyrivibrio stearic acid subgroup and Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus linearly decreased as dietary FO amounts increased. In conclusion, FO effects on trans fatty acid accumulation in the rumen may be explained in part by FO influence on Butyrivibrio group.
Stratigraphy of the Brevard Zone and Poor Mountain Area, Northwestern South Carolina

The low-rank Brevard-Poor Mountain-Henderson belt of northwestern South Carolina is bordered on the northwest by the Blue Ridge and on the southeast by the high-rank Inner Piedmont. This low-rank belt is a synclinorium deformed internally by isoclinal recumbent folding and tectonic sliding. An earlier isoclinal folding, progressive metamorphic event and a later faulting, cataclastic retrogressive metamorphic event can be distinguished. The Brevard and Henderson assemblages extend along the regional strike into North Carolina and Georgia. Rocks of the Poor Mountain sequence occur in northeastern Georgia and probably extend into North Carolina. The Poor Mountain sequence consists of calcareous quartzite, marble, amphibolite, and chloritic button (muscovite augen) phyllite. The Brevard assemblage of chloritic and graphitic button phyllites and impure marble is a stratigraphic sequence that persists from Habersham County, Georgia, into North Carolina. Graphite-rich layers and the carbonate at the same horizon in the sequence indicate a sedimentary origin for this assemblage. The button lithology is not unique to the Brevard assemblage. It occurs in the Poor Mountain sequence to the southeast of the Brevard zone. To the southeast, the button lithology is commonly overlain by the Poor Mountain amphibolite. It is proposed that the Brevard and Poor Mountain assemblages are equivalent and that sedimentary facies changes account for the different lithologies observed to the southeast and along strike. Interlayering of the Henderson augen gneiss and the Poor Mountain sequence, together with the compositional variations of the Henderson, indicates a probable sedimentary origin for it, also. A late Precambrian-Early Cambrian age is proposed for the Brevard-Poor Mountain-Henderson rocks.
What To Do If Your Inner Tomboy Is a Homo: Straight Women, Bisexuality, and Pleasure in M/M Gay Romance Fictions

This essay tackles the controversy of heterosexual-identified women who derive erotic and psychic pleasure from writing and/or reading popular literature in which the central romantic couple is two men. Such narratives are known as M/M fiction and comprise a subgenre within the larger romance market. Criticism directed at this cultural practice often argues that such narratives merely substitute two male bodies for a male/female pair without substantively altering the emotional and sexual dynamics of the relationship. Hence, the male lovers in such narratives are simply acting out a heterosexual fantasy of gay male intimacy. To challenge this view, this essay turns to revisions to Freudian understandings of bisexuality. In so doing, it attempts to relocate this pleasure in the repudiated male identities and homosexual object cathexes that all women are urged to give up in the pre-Oedipal phase as a condition of assuming (hetero)normative gender and sexual subjectivities.
The United States, the European Union, and China: The Triadic Contest for Africa and Its Implications for International Human Rights and Democracy

This article argues that unless the three primary international actors in Africa restructure their strategy towards the continent in a manner that gives recognized values of human rights, the rule of law and good governance some type of preeminence, both the interests of Africa and the business of these countries will suffer.
Systolic time intervals: basis and application

Systole, like diastole, can be divided into physiologically (and ultimately clinically) significant intervals. They have been explicitly or intuitively measured for more than a century, but the modern application of systolic time intervals (STI) results from the work of Blumberger; all subsequent work has been variations on the remarkable range of his physiologic, clinical and pharmacologic investigations, though perhaps with more sophisticated statistical analyses. More recent interest in STI was stimulated by the many contributions of Weissler.
Exploring a Rectangle Problem

If P is in the interior of rectangle ABCD such that I PA = 3, PB 4, PC = 5, what is I PD I? This problem [2] and variations of it have been considered many times before [5], so finding an answer is not our point. In exploring this problem, we would like to emphasize how we look at a problem, the surprises we discover, and how we are led to extend our investigation. You might first ask: what is the size of -)Z APC? Is enough information given about the rectangle to solve the problem? Is the rectangle determined by the three segments PA, PB, PC? Suppose we investigate by placing the point A anywhere on a circle with center P and radius 3 (FIGURE 1(a)). Then B must lie on a circle with center P and radius 4 (FIGURE 1(b)). There are an infinite number of possible positions for B though not every position on the circle is allowable if P is to be inside the rectangle. To locate point C draw BB' perpendicular to AB. Since PC = 5, draw the circle with center P and radius 5, and let it cut BB' at C (FIGURE 1(c)). Since 3 vertices determine a rectangle, ABCD is now fixed. If P is not inside the rectangle, change the position of B until P falls inside. Since B can have an infinite number of positions, there are an infinite number of rectangles satisfying the condition IPA =3, 1PB 4, 1PC 5. This is, for most people, the first of several surprises. It implies additionally that .?2APB and -?2APC are also not unique.
Local Vibrations and Negative Thermal Expansion in ZrW 2 O 8

We present an x-ray pair distribution function (XPDF) analysis and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data for ZrW2O8 (10-500 K) with a focus on the stiffness of the Zr-O-W linkage. The XPDF is highly sensitive to W-Zr and W-W correlations, but much less so to O-O or W-O correlations. The Zr-W peak in the XPDF data has a weak temperature dependence and, hence, this linkage is relatively stiff and does not permit bending of the Zr-O-W link. We propose that the low energy vibrational modes that lead to negative thermal expansion involve correlated rotations of ZrO6 octahedra that produce large translations of the WO4 tetrahedra, rather than a transverse motion of O atoms that imply a flexible Zr-O-W linkage.
Summary of the GK15 Ground‐Motion Prediction Equation for Horizontal PGA and 5% Damped PSA from Shallow Crustal Continental Earthquakes

We present a revised ground‐motion prediction equation (GMPE) for computing medians and standard deviations of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and 5% damped pseudospectral acceleration (PSA) response ordinates of the horizontal component of randomly oriented ground motions to be used for seismic‐hazard analyses and engineering applications. This GMPE is derived from the expanded Next Generation Attenuation (NGA)‐West 1 database (see [Data and Resources][1]; Chiou et al. , 2008). The revised model includes an anelastic attenuation term as a function of quality factor ( Q ) to capture regional differences in far‐source (beyond 150 km) attenuation, and a new frequency‐dependent sedimentary‐basin scaling term as a function of depth to the 1.5 km/s shear‐wave velocity isosurface to improve ground‐motion predictions at sites located on deep sedimentary basins. The new Graizer–Kalkan 2015 (GK15) model, developed to be simple, is applicable for the western United States and other similar shallow crustal continental regions in active tectonic environments for earthquakes with moment magnitudes ( M ) 5.0–8.0, distances 0–250 km, average shear‐wave velocities in the upper 30 m ( V S 30) 200–1300 m/s, and spectral periods ( T ) 0.01–5 s. Our aleatory variability model captures interevent (between‐event) variability, which decreases with magnitude and increases with distance. The mixed‐effect residuals analysis reveals that the GK15 has no trend with respect to the independent predictor parameters. Compared to our 2007–2009 GMPE, the PGA values are very similar, whereas spectral ordinates predicted are larger at T <0.2 s and they are smaller at longer periods. [1]: #sec-21
Evaluation of Guazatine Triacetate as an Antifeedant/Feeding Deterrent for the Green Cloverworm on Soybeans

Laboratory and field trials to determine the antifeedant/deterrent efficacy of guazatine triacetate in reducing feeding damage by Plathypena scabra (F.) to soybeans were conducted in 1976–78. Short-term (48 h) laboratory and field dosage/respone equations were calculated. Both equations were tempered by the presence of foliar phytotoxicity thresholds as they approached 86 and 50% protection, respectively. Short-term mortality was nominal at all rates, although mortality increased as exposure time (>48 h) and application rate increased. Increased application rates depressed development in a curvilinear fashion. The total cumulative damage eventually sustained, under each treatment, varied inversely with application rate. No effective systemic antifeedant/deterrent action was indicated.
Ruthenocene-Containing Homopolymers and Block Copolymers via ATRP and RAFT Polymerization

Ruthenocene-containing methacrylate homopolymer, poly(2-(methacrylolyoxy)ethyl ruthenocenecarboxylate) (PMAERu), was prepared by controlled polymerization methods such as reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Kinetic studies showed that both the RAFT and ATRP process of monomer 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl ruthenocenecarboxylate (MAERu) followed a controlled/“living” polymerization behavior. The obtained polymer PMAERu was fully characterized by NMR, gel permeation chromatography, UV–vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. By using the ruthenocene-containing homopolymer as a Macro-RAFT agent and 2-bromoisobutyryl end-capped poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-Br) as a macroinitiator, different amphiphilic diblock copolymers were synthesized via successful chain extension. These amphiphilic diblock copolymers can self-assemble into micelles with different morphologies, includ...
Time, Tense, and Narrative Style: Linguistic Insights from Contemporary Narrative Discourse

Stripping the text, as has often been remarked, to its bare bones,the legendary editor thus creates a new style simply by switching the past tense,the preferred tense of traditional fiction, initially chosen by the author, to the present tense. Gordon Lish gives Carver’s early stories a minimalist style, different from Carver’s later collections of stories. The two styles have been discussed by critics from a psychological angle correlated with biographical information, but whatever the explanation, the fact remains that the early minimalist style has been created to a large extent by a skillful editor, and the major change is the verb tense. Why did Lish feel the tense switch would make for a more effective narrative? What is there about the verb and verb tense that an apparently simple tense switch can define a narrative style? And above all, what can English fiction writers do with just two verb tenses at their disposal?
Gallbladder Cryoablation: Proof of Concept in a Swine Model for a Percutaneous Alternative to Cholecystectomy.

Purpose To investigate the feasibility of percutaneous gallbladder cryoablation (GBC) under CT guidance in a swine model with histopathologic correlation.
Human proximal tubular epithelial cells express somatostatin: regulation by growth factors and cAMP

Somatostatin modulates several renal tubular cell functions, including gluconeogenesis and proliferation. In this study, we demonstrate that cultured human proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTEC) express somatostatin. We also demonstrate positive and negative regulation of PTEC somatostatin production. We found that PTEC derived from 14 different human donors consistently expressed somatostatin mRNA and/or peptide as detected by RT-PCR and enzyme-linked immunoassay. Furthermore, Northern blot analysis revealed that PTEC express the same size mRNA transcript (750 nucleotides) as human thyroid carcinoma (TT) cells. The PTEC mitogens, epidermal growth factor(EGF) and hydrocortisone, inhibit PTEC somatostatin secretion, whereas forskolin (a direct stimulator of adenylate cyclase) and fetal bovine serum stimulate secretion. These findings raise the possibility that renal-derived somatostatin modulates tubular cell function in an autocrine/paracrine manner. Manipulation of this pathway may lead to novel methods with which to alter tubular cell proliferation and function in vivo.
Reflections on Enhancement of the Quality of Primary and High School Textbooks

One of the fundamental problems of primary and high school education reform to achieve its objectives is to ensure and enhance the cultural quality of primary and high textbooks.To improve the learning quality and achieve excellence in basic education needs high cultural quality textbooks.Defective textbooks are "strategic" mistakes and can cause negative effect.Those defective textbooks will ruin education and public morals,harm the country and people.The mistakes in every book will lead to mistakes in textbooks,which is harmful to education,culture,the development of our country.To promote the development of education,culture and social,we should start from guaranteeing the quality of textbooks.The article suggests:with the help of a third-party evaluation of textbooks' cultural quality,textbooks can be classified into different grades;textbooks should focus on common people's life,reducing the influence of urbanization;the editing and evaluation of textbooks should be strengthened with the implementation of relevant standards and requirements;a recall and revision system should be established so as to avoid defective textbooks.
Analysis and prediction of syphilis epidemics in Sheyang County

Objectives:To analyze the epidemiologic features and disease incidence trend of syphilis in Sheyang county,2009.Methods:Data of syphilis collected in 2009 in Sheyang was used for epidemiologic analysis.Results:Syphilis incidence rate in 2009 decreased by 40.34% as compared to the rate in 2008 in Sheyang county.Conclusion:Syphilis control measures taken in Sheyang have achieved positive effects in 2009.
Cell biology to disease and back.

M. Bishr Omary reminds us of the three articles that first uncovered a causative link between mutations in intermediate filaments (specifically, keratin 14) and human diseases.
Interleukin-11 (IL-11) and its receptor: Biology and potential clinical applications in thrombocytopenic states

Hematopoietic microenvironment consists of many different cell types including fibroblasts, macrophages, adipocytes, osteoblasts, and endothelial cells. It is believed that the steady-state equilibrium of hematopoiesis results from the interplay between these stromal cells and stem/progenitor cells through cell-cell contact and local production of cytokines. We have analyzed the growth-factor production of a primate stromal fibroblast cell line, PU-34 [1], and isolated by functional expression cloning a novel cDNA clone (named IL-11) conferring the mitogenic activity on an IL-6-dependent mouse plasmacytoma cell line, T1165 [2]. Subsequent molecular and biological characterization of this cytokine has indicated that IL-11 represents a multifunctional growth factor possessing biological activities overlapping with many growth factors in the gpl30 cytokine family [3–5]. The expression of IL-11 in PU-34 cells can be induced by IL-1, a macrophage-derived cytokine. IL-11 secreted by PU-34 cells following IL-1 stimulation can in turn exhibit inhibitory effect on adipocytes [6,7]. Since these cell types are major components in the hematopoietic microenvironment, the investigation of the control mechanisms of gene expression and signal transduction of IL-11 will advance our understanding of the cell/growth-factor interactions in hematopoiesis.
Treatment of malignant melanoma with methyl CCNU.

Twenty-eight patients with disseminated malignant melanoma were treated with methyl-1-(2-chloroethyl) 3-(4-methyl cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (MeCCNU) administered as a single dose orally every 6 weeks. Six patients (21%) had a complete or partial regression of measurable disease. The median duration of the partial remissions was 2 months and for the 1 complete remission, 18 months. The median survival of those responding to therapy (10.6 months) was significantly longer than those who failed to respond (4.2 months). Regressions of skin, intracutaneous, and nodal disease were most common, but 4 patients had regression of lung metastasis and 1 patient had regression of bone metastasis. Toxicity was primarily delayed thrombocytopenia and to a lesser extent leukopenia occurring within 4 to 6 weeks. Hematopoietic toxicity was significant but manageable. Most patients received treatment as outpatients. The response rate, ease of administration, and absence of sex difference in response make MeCCNU potentially useful in the chemotherapeutic management of disseminated malignant melanoma.
Surgical strategies and novel therapies for locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Many patients with pancreatic cancer are not candidates for surgical resection due to involvement of critical mesenteric vascular structures. We compare and contrast the commonly used classification systems for borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer. We describe the current strategies in managing venous and arterial involvement, as well as the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiation, before explanding on a novel clinical trial in this patient population.
Understandings of Dying, Death, and Mourning

All individuals are likely to experience some form of loss during the course of their lives; it is part of the human condition. However, responses to loss vary across individuals, religions, and cultures. This chapter explores various traditions’ concepts of life and death, drawing and expanding upon concepts initially introduced in Chap. 6. Clinical examples are provided of the exploration of spiritual and/or religious beliefs with clients towards the end of life.
Caught in a bad romance: displaced people and the Georgian state*

After years of frenetic cross-border movement, in 2014, a mother and daughter live in post-Soviet Georgia as practically stateless noncitizens. Recognizing the advantages of citizenship, they commi...
Usability of display-equipped RFID tags for security purposes

The recent emergence of RFID tags capable of performing public key operations has enabled a number of new applications in commerce (e.g., RFIDenabled credit cards) and security (e.g., ePassports and access-control badges). While the use of public key cryptography in RFID tags mitigates many difficult security issues, certain important usability-related issues remain, particularly when RFID tags are used for financial transactions or for bearer identification. In this paper, we focus exclusively on techniques with user involvement for secure user-to-tag authentication, transaction verification, reader expiration and revocation checking, as well as association of RFID tags with other personal devices. Our approach is based on two factors: (1) recent advances in hardware and manufacturing have made it possible to mass-produce inexpensive passive display-equipped RFID tags, and (2) high-end RFID tags used in financial transactions or identification are usually attended by a human user (namely the owner). Our techniques rely on user involvement coupled with on-tag displays to achieve better security and privacy. Since user acceptance is a crucial factor in this context, we thoroughly evaluate the usability of all considered methods through comprehensive user studies and report on our findings.
Saliva biomarker detection using an aptamer-based nanosensor

Aptamers, with numerous advantages over antibodies, such as high stability, resistance to denaturation and degradation, and easy modification possibilities, have found widespread uses in biosensing, drug delivery, disease diagnosis and therapy. The specific binding ability of aptamers to cancer-related markers and cancer cells ensured high performance for early diagnosis of cancer. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) usually is present only at very low levels in the blood of healthy adults, however, the levels can raise in certain kinds of cancers such as colon and rectal cancer, pancreas, breast, ovary or lung cancer, allowing CEA to be used as a tumor marker in clinical tests. Several research groups have further demonstrated the levels of CEA are significantly higher in saliva than in blood/serum. Here, we present an aptamer-based biosensor for CEA’s detection with a sensitivity of 0.399 µA/(ng/mL) in saliva. The binding affinities of the selected aptamers to CEA have been evaluated by Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) technology which is a very sensitive method to measure binding interactions of various biomolecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, and phospholipids. Furthermore, instead of using the time-consuming Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential enrichment (SELEX) process, we proposed a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method to automatically and effectively select target-specific aptamers. It systematically investigates the atomistic details of the binding mechanisms between aptamer and target. Complemented with experimental tests, SPRi validation and MD simulation, this electrochemical aptamer-based biosensing system demonstrates great sensitivity, clinically accuracy and reliability in realizing noninvasive disease detection and monitoring through saliva analysis.
Soliciting patient complaints to improve performance.

Background A study was conducted in 2000 to describe service quality problems in a large tertiary care teaching hospital and evaluate the effect of a pre-discharge program for active complaint surveillance and resolution on patient satisfaction. Methods The pre-post intervention study with temporal controls was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in St Louis. Eighty-four percent (1,023 of 1,218) of patients admitted to a general medical unit between October 2, 2000, and December 22, 2000, were interviewed by a patient advocate to identify and address patient complaints about service quality. Patient satisfaction was measured, using a validated instrument administered by telephone interview 7-10 days after discharge. Results The advocate completed 1,233 patient interviews and received 695 complaints about service quality. Half of the complaints concerned local unit care, most frequently delays in response to patient requests. Patients also complained about food, delays in admission and discharge, and inadequate communication about procedures. Concurrently, the hospital's formal reporting system received 12 complaints. Patients satisfaction scores were unchanged during the intervention. Discussion Active surveillance using predischarge patient interviews by a patient advocate identified many local and systemwide service quality problems in a large tertiary care teaching hospital that needed to be addressed to improve the quality of patient care. However, patient satisfaction scores were unchanged.
Fudging an Answer during Clinical Rounds.

Examines the consequences of a medical student's dishonesty during clinical rounds. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
112G PAM4/56G NRZ Interconnect Design for High Channel Count Packages

A unique modular approach is used for the design of high-speed interconnect at 112G on packages to ensure signal integrity and design effectiveness. Irregular routing cases due to package ball assignment limitations and manufacturing constraints on a high-speed and high channel count package have been analyzed based on frequency response of full-wave electro-magnetic simulation. The design has been optimized beyond the modular approach to achieve full performance requirement at 112G PAM4/56G NRZ.
Post-phacoemulsification iris changes in eyes with glaucoma or glaucoma suspect status.

Purpose This prospective study used anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) to determine how phacoemulsification (phaco) changes iris parameters in eyes with glaucoma or glaucoma suspect status. Methods Using Visante AS-OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG), the following pre- and post-phaco parameters were measured: IT750 = iris thickness at 750 μm from the scleral spur; IT2000 = iris thickness 2000 μm from the scleral spur; ITCM = the maximum iris thickness at the middle one third of the iris; ICURV = iris curvature; IAREA = iris area; and pupil size = pupil diameter (mm). Only high-quality images with an identifiable scleral spur were included, and only the nasal quadrant was analyzed. A single glaucoma specialist analyzed the parameters according to the Zhongshan Angle Assessment Program (ZAAP, Guangzhou, China). Multivariate analysis was performed using mixed effects regression correcting for age, gender, and ethnicity. Results 89 subjects and 110 eyes were included in this study. The mean age of subjects was 74.83 {+/-} 8.69 years old. Most common diagnoses were POAG and glaucoma suspect (23% and 52%, respectively), and 16% of subjects had an LPI. In multivariate analysis of AS-OCT parameters, decreases in IT750, IT2000, ITCM, ICURV, and pupil size were statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions After phacoemulsification, eyes with glaucoma as well as glaucoma suspect eyes have thinner irises and smaller pupils. This may lead to less iris-mediated aqueous outflow obstruction, providing support for early phacoemulsification glaucoma treatment. Translational relevance Our AS-OCT imaging findings may guide clinical practice as iris parameters become increasingly relevant in preoperative phaco planning.
A Topical Review of Evaluation Instruments for Computing Education

As computing education research continues to grow and mature as a field, it becomes more important to focus on the quality and rigor of our research studies. One important aspect of any research study is its formal evaluation. Using standardized and validated instruments relevant to computer science education to perform evaluations can increase the quality of the study and the value of its results. However, researchers often create their own instruments rather than using existing ones, perhaps due to their lack of knowledge of the value of using an existing instrument or due to the challenge of finding such instruments. Through a review of relevant computing education literature, this paper presents a listing of 47 evaluation instruments specifically designed for measuring programs or constructs related to computing that can influence student achievement and learning. Analysis of purpose, target audience, reliability, and validity of the instruments is also presented. The paper ends with a call for the community to begin to make more regular use of validated instruments in their studies when possible and to develop and validate additional instruments in areas where few exist.
Dendritic cell-based immunization induces Coccidioides Ag2/PRA-specific immune response

Valley Fever, or coccidioidomycosis, is caused by a soil-borne, highly virulent fungal pathogen, Coccidioides spp. Infection with Coccidioides can be life-threatening. Since an effective treatment is not available and the T cell-mediated immune response is protective, vaccine development is of interest. In this study, a primary dendritic cell (DC)-vaccine was evaluated for its ability to stimulate Coccidioides antigen-specific immune response in an extremely susceptible BALB/c mouse model. The DC-vaccine (Ag2-DC) was prepared by non-virally transfecting the primary bone marrow-derived DCs with a plasmid DNA encoding Ag2/PRA (protective epitope of Coccidioides). Mice were intranasally immunized with Ag2-DC on days 2 and 10. Immunized mice were necropsied on days 8, 32, and 44. Major organs and blood samples were harvested. The most common indicators of injury (protein, lactate, and albumin), Ag/PRA-specific cytokine-secreting cells, and IgG and its isotypes were determined by biochemical and immunologic assays, respectively. No signs of sickness were noted. Similarly, no significant changes were observed in the levels of total lung protein, lactate, and albumin, in immunized mice compared with healthy control mice. Interferon (IFN-γ), and interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-17 cytokine-secreting cells were observed in lung and lymph nodes upon Ag2-DC immunization. Our results showed that the levels of serum IgG and its isotypes were increased in Ag2-DC-immunized mice. This report provides evidence of DC immunization-stimulated Ag2/PRA-specific immune responses.
The Role of Proteoglycans and Glycosaminoglycans in Heart Valve Biomechanics

Proteoglycans (PGs) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) have long been recognized as constituents of heart valves but their precise functions have been mysterious and underrepresented. The heterogeneity, dynamic processing and viscoelastic nature of PGs and GAGs, and their ability to exist independently or in association with other extracellular matrix (ECM) components, contribute to the overall complexity of valve ECM (structure), and impact local tissue biomechanics (function). This chapter will discuss various approaches for elucidating the biomechanical properties of valvular PGs and GAGs, will relate valve tissue hemodynamic alterations and valve cell biomechanical stimuli to differences in PG/GAG expression (and misexpression), and will address directions for future studies.
Machine-Learning-Aided Service Provisioning in Multi-Domain Optical Networks

This paper discusses testbed experiments and algorithms for machine-learning-aided service provisioning in multi-domain optical networks. Experimental results of hierarchical learning for QoT estimation of end-to-end lightpaths and a multi-agent DRL-based RMSA algorithm are presented.
Structure in the Spectra of Some Multiplier Algebras

We examine the spectra of the multiplier algebras of the Dirichlet space and of the generalized Dirichlet spaces (spaces between the Hardy space and the Dirichlet space). For the generalized Dirichlet spaces we show that the spectrum contains nontrivial analytic disks. For the Dirichlet space we are able to show that the spectrum contains nontrivial Gleason parts.
Liver Pathology in Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency from Bi-Allelic Mutations in NDUFS2: A Report of Findings at Autopsy

Background: Mitochondriopathies are a heterogeneous group of genetic disorders with a wide array of symptomatology, organ system involvement, and inheritance patterns. Neonatal presentation can be fatal with neuromuscular dysfunction, lactic acidosis and hepatic failure. Historic literature has numerous phenotypic illustrations; however, genotypic correlation is limited. With improved testing methods, genotype-phenotype correlation is now increasingly feasible as demonstrated herein. Case Report: We present liver pathology findings in an infant who expired with a diagnostic suspicion of a mitochondrial disorder. Postmortem hepatocyte hypereosinophilia with microvesicular steatosis associated with ultrastructural findings of mitochondrial hyperplasia supported a mitochondriopathy. Genetic testing eventually confirmed mitochondrial complex I deficiency from bi-allelic mutations in NDUFS2. Conclusions: Morphologic attributes can assist in diagnosis of mitochondriopathies before specific genetic testing results are available. This case also highlights that diagnostic information can be gained from ultrastructural examination of postmortem liver tissue.
Reply to Goldberg and Steinberg

In response to Peter Goldberg’s (this issue) critical remarks, the author proposes to differentiate between the semantic plane of communication and the semiotic plane, but to place both in the more...
Delayed vasopressor initiation is associated with increased mortality in patients with septic shock.

Abstract Purpose Mortality rate for septic shock, despite advancements in knowledge and treatment, remains high. Treatment includes administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics and stabilization of the mean arterial pressure (MAP) with intravenous fluid resuscitation. Fluid-refractory shock warrants vasopressor initiation. There is a paucity of evidence regarding the timing of vasopressor initiation and its effect on patient outcomes. Materials and methods This retrospective, single-centered, cohort study included patients with septic shock from January 2017 to July 2017. Time from initial hypotension to vasopressor initiation was measured for each patient. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Results Of 530 patients screened,119 patients were included. There were no differences in baseline patient characteristics. Thirty-day mortality was higher in patients who received vasopressors after 6 h (51.1% vs 25%, p Conclusion Vasopressor initiation after 6 h from shock recognition is associated with a significant increase in 30-day mortality. Vasopressor administration within 6 h was associated with shorter time to achievement of MAP goals and higher vasopressor-free hours within the first 72 h.
News and Markets in the Time of COVID-19

The initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by voluminous, highly negative news coverage. Markets overreacted to uninformative news, and reacted more to news during high volatility periods. News coverage responded to lagged market activity, and causally impacted contemporaneous returns. The early part of the pandemic contained feedback between news and markets, behavior consistent with a market availability cascade. I propose a test using markets and news to identify the presence and end of such cascades. This one ended in March 2020, which was knowable by the end of April. Afterwards, markets and news became less coupled.
Machine learning holography for measuring 3D particle distribution

Abstract We propose a learning-based image processing method for particle size measurement based on digital holography in this paper. The proposed approach uses a modified U-net architecture with recorded holograms, hologram reconstructed to each longitudinal location, and minimum intensity projection in longitudinal direction as inputs to produce outputs consisting of in-focus particles at each longitudinal location and their 2D centroids. A soft generalized dice loss is used for the particle size channel and a total variation regularized mean squared error loss is employed for the 2D centroids channel. The proposed method has been assessed using synthetic, manually-labeled experimental, and real experimental holograms. The results demonstrate that our approach have better performance in comparison to the state-of-the-art non-machine-learning methods in terms of particle extraction rate and positioning accuracy. Our learning-based approach can be readily extended to other types of image-based particle size measurement tasks such as shadowgraph imaging and defocusing imaging.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Hospital-Based Care Associated with Postpartum Depression.

To estimate racial and ethnic differences in rates of hospital-based care associated with postpartum depression. This is a retrospective cohort study using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis codes within data from the Office of Statewide Planning and Development in California. We included primiparous women who underwent delivery hospitalization from 2008 to 2012. The primary outcome was the first postpartum hospital encounter with a ICD-9-CM code for depression over a 9-month period after delivery. We examined the cumulative incidence of hospital-based care for postpartum depression by race/ethnicity. Logistic regression was used to estimate relative risk. The study cohort consisted of 984,167 primiparous women: 314,037 (32%) were non-Hispanic White; 59,754 (6%) were non-Hispanic Black; 150,855 (15%) were non-Hispanic Asian; 448,770 (46%) were Hispanic; and 10,399 (1%) were other races. The cumulative incidence of hospital-based care for postpartum depression was highest for Black women (39; 95% CI = 34–44 per 10,000 deliveries) and lowest for Asian women (7; 95% CI = 5–8 per 10,000 deliveries). Compared with White women, hospital-based care for postpartum depression was more likely to be provided to Black women (OR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.9–2.7), whereas care was less likely for Asians (OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.3–0.5) and Hispanics (OR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.7–1.0). Similar findings were observed after excluding women with antepartum depression, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables, and stratifying according to care settings. Compared with White women, hospital-based care for postpartum depression more frequently impacts Black women. Identifying and improving inequities in access to and utilization of mental health care for postpartum women should be a maternal health priority.
Forestland management and empowerment: A phenomenological inquiry into the experiences of women forestland managers in the state of Georgia, USA

Women are increasingly becoming the primary decision-makers of forested properties throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of women forestland owners in Georgia. A qualitative phenomenological research design was used to interview nine female forestland owners. Three themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews. Participants stated that land management involved: (a) initial feelings of inadequacy (an imposter syndrome), (b) personal and professional resources, and (c) genuine relationships. The theory of empowerment provided a basis for interpreting the findings and aided in the development of recommendations for future practice and research. We found that women experienced a temporary imposter stage early in land management that gave way to feeling empowered as their experiences with managing land increased. Access to trustworthy information, as well as genuine relationships with forestry professionals and other landowners, played key roles in such advancement. We recommend strategies for natural resource professionals to consider, including encouraging formal and informal networking opportunities when working with female audiences, including at educational outreach events like those hosted by Extension.
Physiologic Changes During Pregnancy: Effects of Major Regional Anesthesia

The major cardiovascular and respiratory changes, and problems that can occur, in normal pregnancy are briefly reviewed, as are the effects of these changes on use of regional anesthesia. Procedures for and possible problems of anesthesia during parturition are discussed.
Comprehensive Views of Math Learners: A Case for Modeling and Supporting Non-math Factors in Adaptive Math Software

Adaptive math software supports students’ learning by targeting specific math knowledge components. However, widespread use of adaptive math software in classrooms has not led to the expected changes in student achievement, particularly for racially minoritized students and students situated in poverty. While research has shown the power of human mentors to support student learning and reduce opportunity gaps, mentoring support could be optimized by using educational technology to identify the specific non-math factors that are disrupting students’ learning and direct mentors to appropriate resources related to those factors. In this paper, we present an analysis of one non-math factor—reading comprehension—that has been shown to influence math learning. We predict math performance using this non-math factor and show that it contributes novel explanatory value in modeling students’ learning behaviors. Through this analysis, we argue that educational technology could better address the learning needs of the whole student by modeling non-math factors. We suggest future research should take this learning analytics approach to identify the many different kinds of motivational and non-math content challenges that arise when students are learning from adaptive math software. We envision analyses such as those presented in this paper enabling greater individualization within adaptive math software that takes into account not only math knowledge and progress but also non-math factors.
Fathers and Public Policy

Fathers play an important role in children’s healthy development. Federal policy has sought to strengthen fathers’ emotional and financial engagement with their children through child support and responsible fatherhood programs, to mixed results. In this chapter, I describe current policies designed to support fathers and the evidence base on their effectiveness. I contrast the efforts to support fathers, which are focused primarily on increasing employment and earnings and enhancing relationships, with policies to promote maternal and child well-being, which focus on parenting skills and healthy development. I conclude with recommendations for policies that target specific outcomes and needs of fathers.
Circuit-based models of shared variability in cortical networks

A pervasive yet puzzling feature of cortical circuits is that despite their complex wiring, population-wide shared spiking variability is low dimensional. Neuronal variability is often used as a probe to understand how recurrent circuitry supports network dynamics. However, current models cannot internally produce low dimensional shared variability, and rather assume that it is inherited from outside the circuit. We analyze population recordings from the visual pathway where directed attention differentially modulates shared variability within and between areas, which is difficult to explain with externally imposed variability. We show that if the spatial and temporal scales of inhibitory coupling match physiology, network models capture the low dimensional shared variability of our population data. Our theory provides a critical link between measured cortical circuit structure and recorded population activity.
Systemic Sclerosis: Current State and Survival After Lung Transplantation.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by the involvement of skin and internal organs. With the introduction of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) is no longer considered a leading cause of death in affected patients. In fact, pulmonary manifestations [interstitial lung disease (ILD) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)] are currently the major cause of death in patients with SSc. Historically, many centers have been reluctant to offer lung transplantation to patients with SSc due to multiple extrapulmonary manifestations and the assumption of poor post-transplant survival. The purpose of this review is to highlight the recent advances in the evaluation and management of patients with pulmonary manifestations of SSc. We also engage in a systematic literature review to assess all the available data on the survival of patients with SSc after lung transplantation.
Network dynamic model of epidemic transmission introducing a heterogeneous control factor.

The COVID-19 epidemic is not only a medical issue but also a sophisticated social problem. We propose a network dynamics model of epidemic transmission introducing a heterogeneous control factor. The proposed model applied the classical susceptible- exposed-infectious-recovered model to the network based on effective distance and was modified by introducing a heterogeneous control factor with temporal and spatial characteristics. International aviation data were approximately used to estimate the flux fraction matrix, and the effective distance was calculated. Through parameter estimation and simulation, the theoretical values of the modified model fit well with practical values. By adjusting the parameters and observing the change of the results, we found that the modified model is more in line with the actual needs and has higher credibility in the comprehensive analysis. The assessment shows that the number of confirmed cases worldwide will reach about 20 million optimistically. In severe cases, the peak value will exceed 80 million, and the late stage of the epidemic shows a long tail shape, lasting more than one and a half years. The effective way to control the global epidemic is to strengthen international cooperation and to impose international travel restrictions and other measures.
Structural basis for context-specific inhibition of translation by oxazolidinone antibiotics

The antibiotic linezolid, the first clinically approved member of the oxazolidinone class, inhibits translation of bacterial ribosomes by binding to the peptidyl transferase center. Recent work has demonstrated that linezolid does not inhibit peptide bond formation at all sequences but rather acts in a context-specific manner, namely when alanine occupies the penultimate position of the nascent chain. In this study, we determined that the second-generation oxazolidinone radezolid also induces stalling with alanine at the penultimate position. However, the molecular basis for context-specificity of these inhibitors has not been elucidated. In this study, we determined high-resolution cryo-EM structures of both linezolid and radezolid-stalled ribosome complexes. These structures reveal that the alanine side chain fits within a small hydrophobic crevice created by oxazolidinone, resulting in improved ribosome binding. Modification of the ribosome by the antibiotic resistance enzyme Cfr disrupts stalling by forcing the antibiotic to adopt a conformation that narrows the hydrophobic alanine pocket. Together, the structural and biochemical findings presented in this work provide molecular understanding of context-specific inhibition of translation by clinically important oxazolidinone antibiotics.