cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
One-step microfluidic generation of pre-hatching embryo-like core-shell microcapsules for miniaturized 3D culture of pluripotent stem cells.

A novel core–shell microcapsule system is developed in this study to mimic the miniaturized 3D architecture of pre-hatching embryos with an aqueous liquid-like core of embryonic cells and a hydrogel-shell of zona pellucida. This is done by microfabricating a non-planar microfluidic flow-focusing device that enables one-step generation of microcapsules with an alginate hydrogel shell and an aqueous liquid core of cells from two aqueous fluids. Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells encapsulated in the liquid core are found to survive well (>92%). Moreover, ~20 ES cells in the core can proliferate to form a single ES cell aggregate in each microcapsule within 7 days while at least a few hundred cells are usually needed by the commonly used hanging-drop method to form an embryoid body (EB) in each hanging drop. Quantitative RT-PCR analyses show significantly higher expression of pluripotency marker genes in the 3D aggregated ES cells compared to the cells under 2D culture. The aggregated ES cells can be efficiently differentiated into beating cardiomyocytes using a small molecule (cardiogenol C) without complex combination of multiple growth factors. Taken together, the novel 3D microfluidic and pre-hatching embryo-like microcapsule systems are of importance to facilitate in vitro culture of pluripotent stem cells for their ever-increasing use in modern cell-based medicine.
CcpA Mediates Proline Auxotrophy and Is Required for Staphylococcus aureus Pathogenesis

Human clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, for example, strains Newman and N315, cannot grow in the absence of proline, albeit their sequenced genomes harbor genes for two redundant proline synthesis pathways. We show here that under selective pressure, S. aureus Newman generates proline-prototrophic variants at a frequency of 3 x 10(-6), introducing frameshift and missense mutations in ccpA or IS1811 insertions in ptsH, two regulatory genes that carry out carbon catabolite repression (CCR) in staphylococci and other Gram-positive bacteria. S. aureus Newman variants with mutations in rocF (arginase), rocD (ornithine aminotransferase), and proC (Delta(1)-pyrroline 5-carboxylate [P5C] reductase) are unable to generate proline-prototrophic variants, whereas a variant with a mutation in ocd (ornithine cyclodeaminase) is unaffected. Transposon insertion in ccpA also restored proline prototrophy. CcpA was shown to repress transcription of rocF and rocD, encoding the first two enzymes, but not of proC, encoding the third and final enzyme in the P5C reductase pathway. CcpA bound to the upstream regions of rocF and rocD but not to that of proC. CcpA's binding to the upstream regions was greatly enhanced by phosphorylated HPr. The CCR-mediated proline auxotrophy was lifted when nonpreferred carbohydrates were used as the sole carbon source. The ccpA mutant displayed reduced staphylococcal load and replication in a murine model of staphylococcal abscess formation, indicating that carbon catabolite repression presents an important pathogenesis strategy of S. aureus infections.
Father's Presence and Young Children's Behavioral and Cognitive Adjustment

The present study examined the impact of the biological father on young children's cognitive and behavioral adjustment. Using data from the 1986 Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the relationship between father's coresidence in the household over the first 3 years of a child's life and children's adjustment was assessed for 1,688 four-to six-year-old children. Two dimensions of father-presence were considered, reflecting the timing of the father's entry into the household and the duration of his presence during the child's first 3 years of life. Within-group analyses of variance indicated significant effects of father-presence for White and Hispanic children and for children born to teenage and older mothers. All of these initial effects disappeared, however, once controls for child characteristics, maternal characteristics, and family resources were introduced in multiple regression models. These findings suggest that the father-effects operated through family characteristics...
Cross-Validation of the JSORRAT-II in Iowa:

The predictive validity of the Juvenile Sexual Offense Recidivism Risk Assessment Tool-II (JSORRAT-II) was evaluated using an exhaustive sample of 11- to 17-year-old male juveniles who offended sexually (JSOs) between 2000 and 2006 in Iowa (n = 529). The validity of the tool in predicting juvenile sexual recidivism was significant (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] =.70, 99% confidence interval [CI] = [.60,.81], d = 0.70). Non-significant predictive validity coefficients were observed for the prediction of non-sexual forms of recidivism. Additional analyses were undertaken to test hypotheses about the tool's performance with various subsamples. The age of the JSO at the time of the index sexual offense and time at risk outside secure facility placements interacted significantly with JSORRAT-II scores to predict juvenile sexual recidivism. The implications of these findings for practice and research on the validation of risk assessment tools are discussed. Language: en
A patterned microtexture to reduce friction and increase longevity of prosthetic hip joints

More than 285,000 total hip replacement surgeries are performed in the US each year. Most prosthetic hip joints consist of a cobalt-chromium (CoCr) femoral head that articulates with a polyethylene acetabular component, lubricated with synovial fluid. The statistical survivorship of these metal-on-polyethylene prosthetic hip joints declines significantly after 10 to 15 years of use, primarily as a result of polyethylene wear and wear debris incited disease. The current engineering paradigm to increase the longevity of prosthetic hip joints is to improve the mechanical properties of the polyethylene component, and to manufacture ultra-smooth articulating surfaces. In contrast, we show that adding a patterned microtexture to the ultra-smooth CoCr femoral head reduces friction when articulating with the polyethylene acetabular liner. The microtexture increases the load-carrying capacity and the thickness of the joint lubricant film, which reduces contact between the articulating surfaces. As a result, friction and wear is reduced. We have used a lubrication model to design the geometry of the patterned microtexture, and experimentally demonstrate reduced friction for the microtextured compared to conventional smooth surrogate prosthetic hip joints.
The Implementation of Modified Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Youth with Separation Anxiety Disorder

Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is the most prevalent anxiety disorder experienced by children, and yet empirical treatment studies of SAD in young children are virtually nonexistent. This paper will describe the development and implementation of an innovative treatment for SAD in young children. First, we will highlight the rationale for developing interventions specifically for SAD in young children. Second, we will describe an existing empirically supported treatment, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT; Brinkmeyer, M. Y., & Eyberg, S.M., (2003)), that may have particular applicability to very young children with SAD and their parents. We present how results from 10 pilot participants were utilized to modify PCIT to better address the needs of children with SAD and their families. The benefits and challenges of implementing this modified version of PCIT are reviewed, along with potential directions for future research in this area.
Parsing the variability in CH4 flux at a spatially heterogeneous wetland: Integrating multiple eddy covariance towers with high-resolution flux footprint analysis

Restored wetlands are a complex mosaic of open water and new and old emergent vegetation patches, where multiple environmental and biological drivers contribute to the measured heterogeneity in methane (CH4) flux. In this analysis, we replicated the measurements of CH4 flux using the eddy covariance technique at three tower locations within the same wetland site to parse the spatiotemporal variability in CH4 flux contributed by large-scale seasonal variations in climate and phenology and short-term variations in flux footprint movement over a mosaic of vegetation and open water. Using a hierarchical statistical model accounting for site-level environmental effects, tower-level footprint and biological effects, and temporal autocorrelation, we partitioned the key drivers of the daily CH4 flux variability among the three replicated towers. The daily mean air temperature and mean friction velocity, a measure of momentum transfer, explained a significant variability in CH4 flux across the three towers, and the abundance and spatial aggregation of vegetation in the flux footprint along with the daily gross primary productivity explained much of the tower-level variability. This statistical model captured 67% of the total variance in the daily integrated growing season CH4 fluxes at this site, which bridged an order of magnitude from 80 to 480 mg C m−2 d−1 during the measurement period from 10 May 2012 to 24 October 2012.
Lack of SARS Transmission among Healthcare Workers, United States

Healthcare workers accounted for a large proportion of persons with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during the worldwide epidemic of early 2003. We conducted an investigation of healthcare workers exposed to laboratory-confirmed SARS patients in the United States to evaluate infection-control practices and possible SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) transmission. We identified 110 healthcare workers with exposure within droplet range (i.e., 3 feet) to six SARS-CoV-positive patients. Forty-five healthcare workers had exposure without any mask use, 72 had exposure without eye protection, and 40 reported direct skin-to-skin contact. Potential droplet- and aerosol-generating procedures were infrequent: 5% of healthcare workers manipulated a patient's airway, and 4% administered aerosolized medication. Despite numerous unprotected exposures, there was no serologic evidence of healthcare-related SARS-CoV transmission. Lack of transmission in the United States may be related to the relative absence of high-risk procedures or patients, factors that may place healthcare workers at higher risk for infection.
Control of Scalable Wet SMA Actuator Arrays

This paper presents a new control method to drive an array of wet Shape Memory Alloy actuators utilizing a Matrix Manifold and Valve system (MMV). The MMV architecture allows a vast DOF robotic system to be controlled using limited number of resources. Using biological inspiration, the robotic system contains a network of “blood vessels” transporting fluid to the various “muscle” actuators. In general, an array of N2wet actuators can be controlled by 2N+2 fluidic valves, resulting in a scalable architecture. This would allow robots to contain a vast number of actuators like the human body, and be controlled in a scalable manner. The initial prototype contains a 4x4 array of 16 actuators controlled by 10 solenoid valves, where 25% of the actuators can be activated at any one time. Since only a subset of the actuators can be activated at any time, various methods of scheduling the resources (i.e. valves) are investigated, as well as various ways to define the error or difference between the desired and actual states of the array. The fluidic impedance of the system is taken into account in order to optimize the control. Results of simulation show that new scheduler options and definitions of error improve the performance of the system by a factor of 10 when operating the array near its maximum capacity.
Hyperbolic polynomials and interior point methods for convex programming

Hyperbolic polynomials have their origins in partial differential equations. We show in this paper that they have applications in interior point methods for convex programming. Each homogeneous hyperbolic polynomial p has an associated open and convex cone called its hyperbolicity cone. We give an explicit representation of this cone in terms of polynomial inequalities. The function Fx = -log px is a logarithmically homogeneous self-concordant barrier function for the hyperbolicity cone with barrier parameter equal to the degree of p. The function Fx possesses striking additional properties that are useful in designing long-step interior point methods. For example, we show that the long-step primal potential reduction methods of Nesterov and Todd and the surface-following methods of Nesterov and Nemirovskii extend to hyperbolic barrier functions. We also show that there exists a hyperbolic barrier function on every homogeneous cone.
Modular subclass verification: safely creating correct subclasses without superclass code

The documentation of object-oriented frameworks and class libraries needs to provide enough information so programmers can reason about the correctness of subclass methods without superclass code. Even though a superclass method satisfies its specification and behaves properly in the context of the superclass itself, a new subclass may cause that method to have unexpected or unverifiable behavior. For example, inherited superclass code can call down to subclass methods which may cause a superclass method to no longer satisfy its specification. Furthermore, without superclass code, downcalls can result in unverifiable side-effects. Aliasing can also result in unexpected or unverifiable side-effects. In this dissertation, we present a reasoning technique that allows programmers, who have no access to superclass code, to avoid the problems caused by downcalls and aliasing. The rules use the specification of the abstract data representation of a class and the frame axiom of each method to determine when a method override is necessary and when verifiers can safely reason about the behavior of super-calls. We describe a type system and propose a tool that would warn when a super-call is unsafe or when a superclass method needs to be overridden. A verification logic is also presented and proved sound. The verification logic is based on specifications given in the Java Modeling Language (JML) and uses superclass and subclass specifications to modularly verify the correctness of subclass code. A set of guidelines is proposed for class library implementers that, if followed, guarantees that superclass methods will always be safe to call and that our verification logic can safely be used. These guidelines make our technique easy to use in practice.
MMPI PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENTS

The purpose of this research was to test a number of hyporheses derived from previous MMPI studies of physical and social science students, as well as to explore systematically other characteristics and differences that may obtain among the four majors studied. The four groups used-physics, zoology, sociology, and history-were selected to represent a kind of quantitative-verbal "continuum" of the physical and social science fields, with physics at the quantitative and history at the verbal end of that continuum. The evidence from several previous studies is that only a few significant differences obtain between the physical and social science students on the MMPI and that only a few of the scales are related to academic achievement. Norman and Redlo (1952) found that their psychology-sociology group (17 out of 20 were in psychology), compared to the math-chemistry-physics group, was significantly higher on Pd' (61.1 vs 55.0) and Sc (59.0 vs 52.8). In addition, the mathchemistry-physics group was the highest on Depression (58.2) of the seven groups studied. In another study, by Clark (1953), some evidence was found to support the Norman and Redlo findings. The psychology students were the highest on Pd (60.5) of the 13 groups compared, while the social science group was the highest on Sc (57.9). Finally, an intercorrelational study by Blum (1947) showed that interests in the Natural Science occupations (Group 11) of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) were positively correlated with D, Mf, and Si, while interests in the Social Uplift occupations (Group V) were negatively correlated with D and Si. In addition, interests in the Biological Sciences 'This paper is based on a research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the M.A. degree in psycholorn ac the University of Minnesota under the direction of Dr. Marvin D.
Total synthesis of N14-desacetoxytubulysin H.

The N14-desacetoxy analogue of tubulysin H was prepared in 20 steps and 2.1% overall yield. Our strategy features a thiazole anion addition to assemble the tubuvaline residue at the C(10)−C(11) bond, as well as acylations at N5, N14, and N17. This iterative coupling approach, as well as the removal of the labile N,O-acetal at N14, enables the synthesis of analogues for detailed studies of structure−activity relationships in this family of potent tubulin disrupters.
DNA methylation directly silences genes with non-CpG island promoters and establishes a nucleosome occupied promoter

Despite the fact that 45% of all human gene promoters do not contain CpG islands, the role of DNA methylation in control of non-CpG island promoters is controversial and its relevance in normal and pathological processes is poorly understood. Among the few studies which investigate the correlation between DNA methylation and expression of genes with non-CpG island promoters, the majority do not support the view that DNA methylation directly leads to transcription silencing of these genes. Our reporter assays and gene reactivation by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, a DNA demethylating agent, show that DNA methylation occurring at CpG poor LAMB3 promoter and RUNX3 promoter 1(RUNX3 P1) can directly lead to transcriptional silencing in cells competent to express these genes in vitro. Using Nucleosome Occupancy Methylome- Sequencing, NOMe-Seq, a single-molecule, high-resolution nucleosome positioning assay, we demonstrate that active, but not inactive, non-CpG island promoters display a nucleosome-depleted region (NDR) immediately upstream of the transcription start site (TSS). Furthermore, using NOMe-Seq and clonal analysis, we show that in RUNX3 expressing 623 melanoma cells, RUNX3 P1 has two distinct chromatin configurations: one is unmethylated with an NDR upstream of the TSS; another is methylated and nucleosome occupied, indicating that RUNX3 P1 is monoallelically methylated. Together, these results demonstrate that the epigenetic signatures comprising DNA methylation, histone marks and nucleosome occupancy of non-CpG island promoters are almost identical to CpG island promoters, suggesting that aberrant methylation patterns of non-CpG island promoters may also contribute to tumorigenesis and should therefore be included in analyses of cancer epigenetics.
Imaging study of vibrational predissociation of the HCl-acetylene dimer : pair-correlated distributions

The state-to-state predissociation dynamics of the HCl–acetylene dimer were studied following excitation in the asymmetric C–H (asym-CH) stretch and the HCl stretch. Velocity map imaging (VMI) and resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) were used to determine pair-correlated product energy distributions. Different vibrational predissociation mechanisms were observed for the two excited vibrational levels. Following excitation in the of the asym-CH stretch fundamental, HCl fragments in υ = 0 and j = 4–7 were observed and no HCl in υ = 1 was detected. The fragments’ center-of-mass (c.m.) translational energy distributions were derived from images of HCl (j = 4–7), and were converted to rotational state distributions of the acetylene co-fragment by assuming that acetylene is generated with one quantum of C–C stretch (ν2) excitation. The acetylene pair-correlated rotational state distributions agree with the predictions of the statistical phase space theory, restricted to acetylene fragments in 1ν2. It is concluded that the predissociation mechanism is dominated by the initial coupling of the asym-CH vibration to a combination of C–C stretch and bending modes in the acetylene moiety. Vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) between acetylene bending and the intermolecular dimer modes leads to predissociation that preserves the C–C stretch excitation in the acetylene product while distributing the rest of the available energy statistically. The predissociation mechanism following excitation in the Q band of the dimer’s HCl stretch fundamental was quite different. HCl (υ = 0) rotational states up to j = 8 were observed. The rovibrational state distributions in the acetylene co-fragment derived from HCl (j = 6–8) images were non-statistical with one or two quanta in acetylene bending vibrational excitation. From the observation that all the HCl(j) translational energy distributions were similar, it is proposed that there exists a constraint on conversion of linear to angular momentum during predissociation. A dimer dissociation energy of D0 = 700 ± 10 cm−1 was derived.
Metabolic Dysfunction Following Traumatic Brain Injury

The major objective of this chapter is to provide insight on neurometabolic/neurochemical cascade and pathophysiological processes underlying the brain responses to biomechanical concussive forces. Specifically, I will provide you with a brief, yet simple and straightforward notion of mild traumatic brain injury, also known as concussion. I would like to stress that concussion: (a) is an injury to the brain caused by biomechanical forces; it is not ischemia or stroke; (b) results in regional and temporal cellular alteration and may produce cell death; (c) produces a state of energy crisis and subsequent metabolic diaschisis; (d) changes the priorities for fuel; and (e) can contribute to the acquisition of posttraumatic stress and more chronic neurological degeneration related to disease. Both animal models and human studies strongly suggest that there is nothing “mild” about mild TBI at the cellular level.
Follicular lysophosphatidic acid may be important for folliculogenesis in obese women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation

mation that, for Massachusetts deliveries, does not agree with the gold standard. Although under-reporting of some birth defects may be due to clinicians primarily reporting only defects discovered within days of delivery, the reason for over-reporting of other defects is unclear. These findings indicate that the SART CORS data field for birth defects is unreliable for use in studies of ART outcome. Supported by: NIH grants: R01HD064595 and R01HD067270.
Ozone Inactivation of Floc Associated Viruses and Bacteria

It has been shown that some viruses and bacteria in their natural environment may exist embedded or adsorbed within various solid materials. These viruses may exhibit a totally different response to a disinfectant in an unadsorbed or free state. It was found that poliovirus (Sabin type 1), coxsackievirus A9, and Escherichia coli adsorbed to hydrated aluminum oxide floc were afforded no protection at floc turbidity levels of 1 and 5 turbidity units over the O 3 concentration range up to 0.25 mg/L. Approx 3 log units per ml of poliovirus 1 and Coxsackie A9 were inactivated within 10 sec when the initial O 3 concentration was ≤0.085 mg/L.
Incidence and etiology of septic meningitis in a metropolitan county hospital.

From January 1, 1969 to December 31, 1974, 98,446 patients were admitted to Ben Taub General Hospital, one of the Harris County District Hospitals and a major teaching institution for Baylor College of Medicine. Spinal fluid specimens from 17,638 (17.9%) patients were cultured, and 787 (4.5%) cultures were positive for pathogenic microorganisms. Haemophilus influenzae , type B, was most frequently isolated (23.8%), followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae (16.0%), Staphylococcus aureus (9%), Neisseria meningitidis (7.3%), and Enterococcus (7.3%). Previous studies have indicated that more than 70% of all the septic meningeal infections are caused by H. influenzae , meningococcus and pneumococcus. At this hospital these organisms were isolated from 47% of the specimens studied, indicating a changing pattern in the etiology of purulent meningitis. Although pediatric patients constituted only 11.5% of the admissions, 58.4% of the pathogenic microorganisms were cultured from these patients.
The Re-Appearance of Race and Ethnicity

lessons learned from postcolonial studies’’ (p. 252). Sociology and Empire should be seen as an important intervention in a longstanding trend whereby sociologists have charted a new course for the future by rewriting the history of the past. As Gurminder Bhambra pointed out in her reflection on ‘‘The Possibilities of, and for, Global Sociology,’’ our only hope of being able to ‘‘understand and address the necessarily postcolonial (and decolonial) present of ‘global sociology’’’ lies in ‘‘reconstruct[ing] backwards’’ our ‘‘historical understandings of modernity and the emergence of sociology’’ (Bhambra 2013:296–297). For at least two decades sociologists have worried about their declining prestige in the academic marketplace. The questions that sociologists have been pondering relating to their ‘‘value’’ in the marketplace have now hit the social sciences and the humanities as a whole. At the same time, the world has grown ever more complex and interdependent and politicians and lay people alike ponder everything from terrorism to ‘‘post-racialism.’’ A century ago sociology emerged in the context of the ‘‘political difficulties’’ and contradictions created by the co-existence of imperialism and liberalism (Connell 1997:1530). Sociology’s theories and models of the world ‘‘offered a resolution’’ (ibid.). Today we find ourselves in a similar position. Sociology stands poised, once again, to provide a level of analysis desperately needed by policymakers and the educated public. As Steinmetz points out in his preface, ‘‘today we are confronting two crises that are often experienced as separate but are actually interwoven: ‘the crisis of the universities’ and the ‘crisis of empire’’’ (p. xiii). With the benefit of hindsight, such as provided by Parts I and III of Sociology and Empire, we can avoid making the mistakes we did in the past. The questions, problems, and theories for understanding the world today, such as provided in Part II, open up the exciting possibility that we can chart a different course for the future.
Proving a moral judgment

MANY contemporary moral philosophers are moral skeptics. That is to say, they hold the view that no moral judgments whatever can be established beyond doubt, or can be known with absolute certainty to be true. G. E. Moore, for instance, holds that there are only two kinds of ethical proposition, and two corresponding ethical judgments: namely, those which answer the question "What kinds of things ought to exist for their own sakes?" and those which answer the question "What line of conduct is a good means to something which ought to exist for its own sake?" Now, the first kind of ethical judgment cannot be established because in its support "no relevant evidence whatever can be adduced," for it is on the basis of intuition alone that we come to make ethical judgments of this kind. But since "in every way in which it is possible to cognize a true proposition, it is also possible to cognize a false one," we can never know for certain that an ethical proposition of this kind is true. Hence, we cannot ever know that any of the other kind is true either, for in every judgment of the second kind, we are implicitly making one of the first
D.H. Lawrence and Environmental Consciousness

A belief in the superiority of our species to non-human nature and our right to manipulate it has deep roots in the Western intellectual tradition; it can be found in the earliest Judeo-Christian scripture and it is one of the basic tenets of humanistic philosophy. Yet there exist within that tradition the beginnings of an alternative worldview that acknowledges environmental realities and questions or contradicts the prevailing belief in the rightness of man's attempts to dominate nature through technology. It was evident in embryonic form in the Romantic movement of the nineteenth century; but although the Romantics valued sometimes even "worshipped" external nature, their emphasis was almost always on the needs and aspirations of man. To writers like Wordsworth, Emerson, and even Thoreau, untouched nature offered a haven from the growing distastefulness of industrial civilization or a medium for the pursuit of spiritual truth. Although the Romantics did not endorse the outright material exploitation of nature, they still looked upon it primarily in terms of its potential human utility. Some later imaginative writers, however, have called anthropocentric and humanistic assumptions sharply into question. Robinson Jeffers proposed a philosophy of "inhumanism," a "shifting of emphasis from man to not man." Such a shift is evident in the thought of a number of twentieth-century writers, among whom D. H. Lawrence was both the first and the most prominent. In referring to the strain of thought about the human relationship to nature that characterizes not only Lawrence's work but also that of writers like William Carlos Williams, Aldous Huxley, Jeffers, Kenneth Rexroth, Ted Hughes, and Gary Snyder, I prefer to use the term "post-humanism." Jeffers, in his "inhumanism," celebrates the non-human but often characterizes homo sapiens as a disastrous evolutionary mistake. Lawrence and the other modern writers who in a sense are his followers in the development of a new environmental consciousness celebrate the whole of life, and recognize human potential for creative rather than destructive participation in it. Lawrence's post-humanism looks at the human species as part of a larger living whole, valuing that whole in its complexity and integrity. Post-humanism values all living things and the inorganic environment on which they depend, recognizing that all life and the conditions that sustain life are interrelated. It asserts that man can be, if he abandons his anthropocentric assumptions, a contributor to, rather than the destroyer of, the pattern of nature. 359
Verito: A Practical System for Transparency and Accountability in Virtual Economies.

Purchase of virtual goods and services is now a major source of revenue for developers on platforms like Facebook, Xbox, and iOS. These virtual economies are typically based on users maintaining a stored-value account of virtual-currency (purchased with real-currency) with the platform. While the model is similar to that of a bank, these economies lack transparency and regulatory oversight that protect a consumer’s financial interests. We propose Verito, a practical solution that provides transparency and accountability in this context. We combine state-of-the-art cryptographic constructs in novel ways to design a system that provides four desirable properties, viz., transparency (money-in equals money-out), fairness (users treated equally), non-repudiation (users’ virtual money is safe), and scalability (low processing and storage costs). Our design also accommodates nuances such as support for multiple-currencies, and defense against arbitrage, while addressing scalability bottlenecks. We present an experimental evaluation based on our implementation of Verito and study its performance characteristics. Overall, we show that it is possible to protect consumer interests in virtual economies in a practical manner, without relying only
Neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer: the future is almost here.

It may not be appropriate, nor always considered standard, to recommend neoadjuvant chemotherapy for all patients for whom adjuvant therapy was recommended before surgery. Indeed, tumor size and nodal status play a role, as do hormone receptors, in determining the appropriate extent of adjuvant therapy.
Microstructural Effects and Properties of Non-Line of Sight Coating Processing via Plasma Spray-Physical Vapor Deposition

Plasma spray-physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD) is a unique processing method that bridges the gap between conventional thermal spray and vapor phase methods, and enables highly tailorable coatings composed of a variety of materials in thin, dense layers or columnar microstructures with modification of the processing conditions. The strengths of this processing technique are material and microstructural flexibility, deposition speed, and potential for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) capability by vaporization of the feedstock material. The NLOS capability of PS-PVD is investigated here using yttria-stabilized zirconia and gadolinium zirconate, which are materials of interest for turbine engine applications. PS-PVD coatings were applied to static cylindrical substrates approximately 6-19 mm in diameter to study the coating morphology as a function of angle. In addition, coatings were deposited on flat substrates under various impingement configurations. Impingement angle had significant effects on the deposition mode, and microscopy of coatings indicated that there was a shift in the deposition mode at approximately 90° from incidence on the cylindrical samples, which may indicate the onset of more turbulent flow and PVD-like growth. Coatings deposited at non-perpendicular angles exhibited a higher density and nearly a 2× improvement in erosion performance when compared to coatings deposited with the torch normal to the surface.
Passage Times and Exit Times for More General Chains

To assess the time to failure to complex systems, describe the course of an epidemic, quantify the dynamics of the human metabolic system or describe congestion in networks via general Markov chain models, one must partition the state space into two sets, G and B say, and study the transfer between them. Two techniques available are examined. The first employs uniformization to exhibit explicitly the mean time from states of G to the set B and higher moments in terms of the Green potential matrix of the set G. One also finds in the same way ruin probabilities of interest. The notion of ergodic transfer rates or flow rates between states and sets is developed and employed to define various transfer times of interest, specifically the “ergodic exit time” from set G, the “quasi-stationary exit time”, and the “ergodic sojourn time” on set G. For time-reversible systems, the simplicity of the theoretical structure present permits one to exhibit a stochastic order between these. The sojourn time is of special interest because its mean may be expressed in terms of the ergodic probabilities and transfer rates between states.
Inferring Forces and Learning Human Utilities from Videos

We propose a notion of affordance that takes into account physical quantities generated when the human body interacts with real-world objects, and introduce a learning framework that incorporates the concept of human utilities, which in our opinion provides a deeper and finer-grained account not only of object affordance but also of people's interaction with objects. Rather than defining affordance in terms of the geometric compatibility between body poses and 3D objects, we devise algorithms that employ physicsbased simulation to infer the relevant forces/pressures acting on body parts. By observing the choices people make in videos (particularly in selecting a chair in which to sit) our system learns the comfort intervals of the forces exerted on body parts (while sitting). We account for people's preferences in terms of human utilities, which transcend comfort intervals to account also for meaningful tasks within scenes and spatiotemporal constraints in motion planning, such as for the purposes of robot task planning.
Gram-negative bacterial molecules associate with Alzheimer disease pathology

Objective: We determined whether Gram-negative bacterial molecules are associated with Alzheimer disease (AD) neuropathology given that previous studies demonstrate Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria can form extracellular amyloid and Gram-negative bacteria have been reported as the predominant bacteria found in normal human brains. Methods: Brain samples from gray and white matter were studied from patients with AD (n = 24) and age-matched controls (n = 18). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and E coli K99 pili protein were evaluated by Western blots and immunocytochemistry. Human brain samples were assessed for E coli DNA followed by DNA sequencing. Results: LPS and E coli K99 were detected immunocytochemically in brain parenchyma and vessels in all AD and control brains. K99 levels measured using Western blots were greater in AD compared to control brains ( p 1-40/42 in amyloid plaques and with Aβ 1-40/42 around vessels in AD brains. DNA sequencing confirmed E coli DNA in human control and AD brains. Conclusions: E coli K99 and LPS levels were greater in AD compared to control brains. LPS colocalized with Aβ 1-40/42 in amyloid plaques and around vessels in AD brain. The data show that Gram-negative bacterial molecules are associated with AD neuropathology. They are consistent with our LPS-ischemia-hypoxia rat model that produces myelin aggregates that colocalize with Aβ and resemble amyloid-like plaques.
Canonical Notch Signaling Is Dispensable for the Maintenance of Adult Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Abstract Canonical Notch signaling operates through a highly conserved pathway that regulates the differentiation and homeostasis of hematopoietic cells. Ligand-receptor binding initiates proteolytic release of the Notch intracellular domain (ICN) which migrates to the nucleus, binds the transcription factor CSL/RBPJk and activates target genes through the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators of the Mastermind-like family (MAML). Notch signaling is essential for the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during fetal life, but its effects on adult HSCs are controversial. In gain-of-function experiments, activation of Notch signaling in adult HSCs increased their self-renewal potential in vitro and in vivo. However, loss-of-function studies have provided conflicting results as to the role of physiological Notch signaling in HSC maintenance and homeostasis. To address this question, we expressed DNMAML1, a GFP-tagged pan-inhibitor of Notch signaling, in mouse HSCs. We have shown previously that DNMAML1 interferes with the formation of the ICN/CSL/MAML transcriptional activation complex and blocks signaling from all four Notch receptors (Notch1-4) (Maillard, Blood 2004). Transfer of DNMAML1-transduced bone marrow (BM) as compared to control GFP-transduced BM into lethally irradiated recipients gave rise to similar long-term stable expression of GFP for at least 6 months after transplant. DNMAML1 and GFP-transduced cells contributed equally to all hematopoietic lineages, except to the T cell and marginal zone B cell lineages, which are Notch-dependent. Expression of DNMAML1 did not affect the size of the BM progenitor compartment (Lin negative, Sca-1 positive, c-Kit high, or LSK cells), or the proportion of LSK cells that were negative for Flt3 and L-Selectin expression (containing long-term HSCs). The stem cell function of DNMAML1-transduced LSK cells was further assessed with in vivo competitive repopulation assays in lethally irradiated recipients. DNMAML1 and GFP-transduced LSK cells competed equally well with wild-type BM, as judged by their contribution to the myeloid lineage up to 4 months post-transplant, through two successive rounds of transplantation. Our data indicate that canonical Notch signaling is dispensable for the maintenance of stem cell function in adult HSCs.
Conformational variation of proteins at room temperature is not dominated by radiation damage.

Protein crystallography data collection at synchrotrons is routinely carried out at cryogenic temperatures to mitigate radiation damage. Although damage still takes place at 100 K and below, the immobilization of free radicals increases the lifetime of the crystals by approximately 100-fold. Recent studies have shown that flash-cooling decreases the heterogeneity of the conformational ensemble and can hide important functional mechanisms from observation. These discoveries have motivated increasing numbers of experiments to be carried out at room temperature. However, the trade-offs between increased risk of radiation damage and increased observation of alternative conformations at room temperature relative to cryogenic temperature have not been examined. A considerable amount of effort has previously been spent studying radiation damage at cryo-temperatures, but the relevance of these studies to room temperature diffraction is not well understood. Here, the effects of radiation damage on the conformational landscapes of three different proteins (T. danielli thaumatin, hen egg-white lysozyme and human cyclo­philin A) at room (278 K) and cryogenic (100 K) temperatures are investigated. Increasingly damaged datasets were collected at each temperature, up to a maximum dose of the order of 107 Gy at 100 K and 105 Gy at 278 K. Although it was not possible to discern a clear trend between damage and multiple conformations at either temperature, it was observed that disorder, monitored by B-factor-dependent crystallographic order parameters, increased with higher absorbed dose for the three proteins at 100 K. At 278 K, however, the total increase in this disorder was only statistically significant for thaumatin. A correlation between specific radiation damage affecting side chains and the amount of disorder was not observed. This analysis suggests that elevated conformational heterogeneity in crystal structures at room temperature is observed despite radiation damage, and not as a result thereof.
The Risk of MI and Ischemic Stroke with Combined Oral Contraceptives.

The overall risk of MI and ischemic stroke is increased in women who use combined oral contraceptives. The relative risk of MI and ischemic stroke increases as estrogen dose rises, increasing by 60% with doses of 20 mcg and more than doubling when doses of 50 mcg or more are used.
Ćuk-based universal converters in discontinuous conduction mode of operation

This paper introduces an open-loop control scheme for Cuk-based universal converters that have recently been proposed by the author. Cuk-based universal converters extend the principles of the operation a dc-dc Cuk converter to systems with single-phase or multi-phase ac sources and/or loads. These power converters can provide galvanic isolation by adding a single-phase high frequency transformer to the link. This eliminates the need for low frequency transformers that have large volume and weight. Being single-stage, the Cuk-based universal converters do not require decoupling components, and a small capacitor is used for transferring the power from input towards output. This eliminates the need for large electrolytic capacitors that have high failure rates. In prior works, a closed-loop control system was used for the Cuk-based universal converters. These converters were controlled such that they always operate at the boundary of continuous and discontinuous conduction modes, which leads to a variable switching frequency and a large voltage ripple across the link capacitor. The closed-loop operation along with variable switching frequency result in a complex control algorithm, which can limit the maximum switching frequency of the converter. This paper proposes an open-loop control scheme that allows the converter operate in discontinuous conduction mode and with a fixed switching frequency. Implementation of the proposed control scheme is simpler than the closed-loop control method. This paper presents details of the proposed method and evaluates its effectiveness.
Consequences of childhood-onset conditions

Four recent studies have shed light on the effects of early childhood mood and behavioral problems on adulthood.
1.25-Gb/s all-optical NAND/AND logic gates in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide

We demonstrate 1.25-Gb/s all-optical NAND/AND logic gates in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide via four-wave mixing Bragg scattering with only 85-mW peak pump powers in the waveguide.
Biomechanical Factors Associated With Pain and Symptoms Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction.

Abstract Background Few studies have investigated the associations between patient-reported outcome and gait in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction over time. Because there is an association between ACL rupture and the presence of osteoarthritis later in life, a better understanding of these relationships will help to elucidate how patients' gait pattern may affect pain and symptoms, potentially leading to better treatment for or preventing the development of knee OA. Objective To evaluate the associations between gait characteristics and self-reported pain and symptoms before, 6 months after, and 1 year after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting The Human Performance Center at the Orthopedic Institute at the University of California, San Francisco. Patients Patients with full unilateral ACL tears were enrolled. A total of 43 patients were included at 12 months postsurgery. Methods The independent variable in this study comprised specific gait variables in patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction. At each time point, 3-dimensional motion analysis was performed. Participants also completed the Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) questionnaire. Main Outcomes Measurements The primary study outcome measurement was the KOOS and was planned before data collection began. Partial correlations were used to examine cross-sectional associations between gait characteristics and KOOS pain and symptom scores at all time points. In addition, partial correlations were performed to examine the associations between change in postoperative KOOS from 6 months to 1 year and gait characteristics at baseline and 6 months. Results Significant associations between KOOS and gait characteristics were found at all time points, including an association between peak medial ground reaction force and pain (r = −0.344, P = .02) and symptoms ( r = −0.407, P = .007) at baseline. Conclusions Specific gait variables may be predictive of greater pain and symptoms and less improvement over time postreconstruction. This could help to inform rehabilitation exercises post injury and pre reconstruction. Level of Evidence IV
6-Keto-Prostaglandin E1: Biosynthesis and Circulatory Effects

The changes in circulatory function induced by 6-keto-prostaglandin E1 (6-keto-PGE1) bear a close resemblance to the changes caused by prostacyclin (PGI2). Like PGI2, 6-keto-PGE1 is potent in stimulating renin secretion [l–3], inhibiting platelet aggregation [4], and reducing blood pressure and vascular resistance in diverse regional circulations [5, 6]. In this chaper, we present evidence that 6-keto-PGE1 may arise during the course of metabolic transformation of PGI2 through the activity of 9-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (9-OH PGDH) identified in various tissues, including liver, blood platelets, and renal cortex. As PGI2 is unstable, having a half-life of approximately 3 min in aqueous solution [7], the identification of an active and stable metabolite of prostacyclin has important implications for understanding the time-dependency of prostacyclin-induced physiologic responses. In contrast to PGI2, when 6-keto-PGE1 is incubated in aqueous solution at pH 7.4, 37°C its platelet antiaggregatory activity remains undiminished for at least 20 min [3].