cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pollination by deceit in nutmeg (Myristica insipida, Myristicaceae): floral displays and beetle activity at male and female trees

Pollination by deceit in Myristica insipida, a beetle-pollinated nutmeg, was hypothesized to operate on intersexual differences in flower production and longevity, producing a daily fluctuation between floral display maxima and minima. Sticky traps were used to continuously monitor beetle activity. Flower production and naturally occurring intersexual differences in display were recorded. Male and female trees flowered in synchrony producing daily display maxima at 1800‐0600 and display minima at 1400‐1800. Rewarding male trees produced three times the number of flowers of female trees, but the greater longevity of female flowers reduced the intersexual difference in display maxima to a factor of two. There was no intersexual difference in display minima. Beetles were demonstrated to be sensitive to differences in both maximum and minimum displays on rewarding male trees, a necessary prerequisite for directional selection on display size. Beetle captures were significantly higher at male trees during floral display maxima, and no intersexual differences in capture rate occurred during floral display minima. However, capture rates at male trees did not decline as predicted, and the pattern of captures was consistent with crepuscular activity. Beetle captures at male and female trees were lower from 1800 to 0600 and 1000 to 1400, and higher from 0600 to 1000 and 1400 to 1800, but the differences were only significant at female trees. These data suggests that foraging errors are numerous, frequent, and the result of overall foraging activity.
Martian gullies in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars: Evidence for climate-controlled formation of young fluvial features based upon local and global topography

A new survey of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) narrow-angle images of gullies in the 30°–45° S latitude band includes their distribution, morphology, local topographic setting, orientation, elevation, and slopes. These new data show that gully formation is favored over a specific range of conditions: elevation (−5000 to +3000 m), slope (>10°), and orientation (83.8% on pole-facing slopes). These data, and the frequent occurrence of gullies on isolated topographic highs, lead us to support the conclusion that climatic-related processes of volatile accumulation and melting driven by orbital variations are the most likely candidate for processes responsible for the geologically recent formation of martian gullies.
Licensure Tests for Special Education Teachers: How Well They Assess Knowledge of Reading Instruction and Mathematics

To determine the extent to which knowledge of evidence-based reading instruction and mathematics is assessed on licensure tests for prospective special education teachers, this study drew on information provided by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, and National Evaluation Systems (now Evaluation Systems group of Pearson). It estimated the percentage of test items on phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary knowledge and on mathematics content. It also analyzed descriptions of ETS’s tests of “principles of teaching and learning.” Findings imply that prospective special education teachers should be required to take both a dedicated test of evidence-based reading instructional knowledge, as in California, Massachusetts, and Virginia, and a test of mathematical knowledge, as in Massachusetts. States must design their own tests of teaching principles to assess knowledge of evidence-based educational theories.
Encoding Cell-Instructive Cues to PEG-Based Hydrogels via Triple Helical Peptide Assembly.

Effective synthetic tissue engineering scaffolds mimic the structure and composition of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) to promote optimal cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Among many proteins of the ECM, collagen and fibronectin are known to play a key role in the structural integrity of the scaffold as well as its ability to support cell adhesion. Here, we present photocrosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels displaying collagen mimetic peptides (CMPs) that can be further conjugated to bioactive molecules via a CMP–CMP triple helix association. Pre-formed PEGDA–CMP hydrogels can be encoded with varying concentrations of cell-signaling CMP–RGD peptides similar to cell adhesive fibronectin decorating the collagen fibrous network by non-covalent binding. Furthermore, the triple helix mediated encoding allows facile generation of spatial gradients and patterns of cell-instructive cues across the cell scaffold that simulate the distribution of insoluble factors in the natural ECM.
A singular perturbation problem for the Lavrent'ev-Bitsadze equation

In this note we consider a singular perturbation problem for the equation where K ( y ) = sgn y and. E is a small (positive) parameter. This equation for e≠O is elliptic for y 0. Many of the results carry over to more difficult and interesting problems for equations of mixed type. The particularly simple model treated here permits the elimination of some complications in the analysis involving singular integral equations while preserving the main qualitative features of more general cases. For a special Tricomi-like problem for (1.1) we construct asymptotic expansions in e, including boundary layer corrections, of the solution. A proof of uniform asymptotic validity of the lowest order terms is given.
Clustering scientific literature using sparse citation graph analysis

It is well known that connectivity analysis of linked documents provides significant information about the structure of the document space for unsupervised learning tasks. However, the ability to identify distinct clusters of documents based on link graph analysis is proportional to the density of the graph and depends on the availability of the linking and/or linked documents in the collection. In this paper, we present an information theoretic approach towards measuring the significance of individual words based on the underlying link structure of the document collection. This enables us to generate a non-uniform weight distribution of the feature space which is used to augment the original corpus-based document similarities. The experimental results on the collection of scientific literature show that our method achieves better separation of distinct groups of documents, yielding improved clustering solutions.
Developing and Applying Habitat Models Using Forest Inventory Data: An Example Using a Terrestrial Salamander

Abstract We provide a framework for developing predictive species habitat models using preexisting vegetation, physical, and spatial data in association with animal sampling data. The resulting models are used to evaluate questions relevant to species conservation, in particular, comparing occurrence estimates in reserved and unreserved lands. We used an information–theoretic approach to develop and evaluate a priori models to predict the occurrence of the Del Norte salamander (Plethodon elongatus) within its geographic range on national forests in California. We then evaluated the association of P. elongatus to federal reserved lands using both an empirical and model-based assessment. For the model-based assessment, we calculated the probability of occurrence at existing Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots that we sampled for salamanders and those that were unsampled within our study area. The Del Norte salamander was more likely to be detected at plots with steeper slopes, older trees, more hardwo...
Impacts of Beech Bark Disease and Deer Browsing on the Old-growth Forest

ABSTRACT Old-growth stands within the Tionesta Research Natural Area were sampled in 1977, 1990 and 2000. Sapling growth within 25 treefall gaps was sampled all three times. Canopy trees were measured using the point-centered quarter method, with 83 points sampled all three times. Gap regeneration increased significantly in density and basal area from 1977–1990. Beech (Fagus grandifolia) significantly increased its relative gap sapling density from 68% to 91% to 94% over the 3 y. Other species decreased in absolute numbers presumably due to deer browsing. Canopy tree density remained constant and basal area increased 1977–1990 but both decreased 1990–2000. Species relative density and basal area values did not change. Mortality rates almost doubled from 1977–1990 to 1990–2000, increasing especially for smaller canopy trees. Snag densities and formation rates also increased, though not significantly, from the first to the second time interval. Beech, in particular, showed large increases in mortality, prob...
The Value of Talmud Study to Modern Legal Education

Centuries before the Socratic method was introduced into modern law schools, students of the Talmud were engaging in a very similar enterprise. After describing the basic process of Talmud study, and discussing the parallels between Talmudic analysis and modern legal education, the Article illustrates how a single question raised by the Talmud (dealing with an issue of unjust enrichment) can unfold into increasing layers of complexity, thereby challenging the student at higher and higher levels.
The effect of pretinning on the solderability of copper

The reliability and integrity of pretinned, copper-clad printed circuit boards are serious concerns in the manufacture of electronic devices. The nature of wetting during the soldering of copper is critical in the reliability of these solder joints. Some preliminary experiments on the solderability of pretinned copper suggest that pretinning with a lead-rich solder, such as 95Pb-5Sn, is preferred to pretinning with a eutectic solder, because the latter can develop exposed intermetallics during aging or baking that wet poorly.
On Factorization of Polynomials

(1953). On Factorization of Polynomials. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 60, No. 6, pp. 375-379.
NT-17TREATMENT OF DIFFUSE INTRINSIC PONTINE GLIOMA (DIPG) WITH AN ONCOLYTIC MEASLES VIRUS IN COMBINATION WITH INHIBITORS OF THE PI3-KINASE PATHWAY

BACKGROUND: Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a highly malignant pediatric brainstem tumor with less than 10% of patients surviving beyond 2 years. Surgical resection of this diffusely infiltrative tumor is not possible, radiation therapy is palliative not curative, and chemotherapy is ineffective. Clearly, more effective therapy for DIPG is necessary. The genomic analyses on tissue samples from biopsy and autopsy have frequently implicated amplification in the PI3K-mTOR pathway signaling in DIPG tumors. The vaccine strain of measles virus (MV) has been shown to be an effective oncolytic therapy in brain tumors in murine xenograft models. METHODS AND RESULTS: Flow cytometry showed that human DIPG cells abundantly express the CD46 receptor on the membrane that is preferentially utilized by MV for cellular entry. MV efficiently infects DIPG cells, replicates in these cells, and causes the formation of multinucleated syncytia. MV kills DIPG cells in dose and time dependent manner with more than 70% cell death observed at MOI of 0.5 after 96hrs. The mTORC1 inhibitor, rapamycin, and the Akt inhibitor, MK2206, individually attenuated the proliferation of DIPG cells (p < 0.05). Importantly, the killing of DIPG cells by MV was synergistically increased when used in combination with rapamycin or MK2206, as determined by the Chou-Talalay equation (synergism if combination index (CI) < 1). The CI values for MV-rapamycin and MV-MK2206 treatments were 0.4 and 0.8 respectively, at EC50. Cells treated with MV in combination with the inhibitor produced 10-times more virus than cells treated with the virus alone. The switch from apoptosis caused by MV alone to autophagy seen when inhibitors are used may be responsible for the increased virus titer. CONCLUSION: Measles virus has therapeutic potential in the treatment of DIPG tumors and the efficacy may be improved by simultaneously targeting the Akt-mTOR pathway.
P-034 comparison of the natural history and outcome measures in patients presented with unruptured and ruptured intracranial arteriovenous malformations

Purpose Although ruptured intracranial AVMs are responsible for around 2% of cerebral hemorrhages, more than 50% of intracranial AVMs present with hemorrhage which remains the most significant risk factor for re-bleed. However, controversies surround the hemorrhage-related morbidity in patients harboring intracranial arterio-venous malformations (AVMs). In this study, we paralleled the natural history and pre/post treatment outcome measure of patients presenting with ruptured and unruptured AVMs. Methods This is an ongoing IRB-approved retrospective study. Consecutive adult patients between 2008–2013 presenting with unruptured AVMs and patients presenting with first intracranial AVM hemorrhage incident verified by CT/MR brain imaging were enrolled in the study. Baseline demographics, medical risk factors, baseline NIHSS score, lesion characteristics (maximum nidus diameter, supra vs. infra-tentorial localization, associated aneurysm, superficial and/or deep drainage, or location), discharge NIHSS score, and 90 days mRS score were obtained. Baseline and discharge NIHSS score were categorized into 3 groups as: 0, 1–9, and ≥10 and 90 days mRS 0–2 was defined as long-term good functional outcome. Univariate (independent samples T test, ANOVA, chi square) and logistic regression analyzes were performed to determine the statistical significance. P value of > 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Fifty nine intracranial AVM cases (32F/27M; mean age ± SD: 40.52 ± 14.52) were enrolled to the study. Patients were categorized into ruptured (n = 31) and unruptured (n = 28) groups. The comparative demographic and admission natural history between 2 groups is demonstrated in the Table 1. Although more patients in ruptured group achieved better discharge NIHSS score compared with unruptured group (3 cases vs.1 case), in ruptured group 7 cases (22%) did not achieve good functional outcome whereas all the patients in unruptured group achieved good functional out come in the follow-up visits. Age, history of smoking, history of hypertension, and presentation with rupture were significantly associated with poor functional outcome (P = 0.017, 0.036, 0.040, 0.007, respectively). Conclusions According to our patient cohort and preliminary results, ruptured intracranial AVM presentations are highly associated with pre- treatment and long term morbidity in comparison to unruptured AVMs. However, multidisciplinary surgical, endovascular, and radiation therapy is able to achieve a favorable independent outcome in both ruptured and particularly unruptured groups. Disclosures A. Honarmand: None. F. Syed: None. M. Hurley: None. A. Shaibani: None. S. Ansari: None.
Influence of sea ice on ocean water vapor isotopes and Greenland ice core records

A warming climate results in sea ice loss and impacts to the Arctic water cycle. The water isotope parameter deuterium excess, a moisture source proxy, can serve as a tracer to help understand hydrological changes due to sea ice loss. However, unlocking the sea ice change signal of isotopes from ice cores requires understanding how sea ice changes impact deuterium excess, which is unknown. Here we present the first isotope data linking a gradient of sea ice extents to oceanic water vapor deuterium excess values. Initial loss of sea ice extent leads to lower deuterium excess moisture sources, and then values progressively increase with further ice loss. Our new process-based interpretation suggests that past rapid (1–3 years) Greenland ice core changes in deuterium excess during warming might not be the result of abrupt atmospheric circulation shifts, but rather gradual loss of sea ice extent at northern latitude moisture sources.
Weber B Distal Fibular Fracture Diagnosed by Point-of-care Ultrasound.

Author(s): Makinen, James; Koehler, Jessica; Tirgari, Sam; Amponsah, David | Abstract: We report the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department (ED)after an acute ankle inversion injury. After history and physical exam suggested a potential fracture,point- of-care ultrasound (POCUS) demonstrated a cortical defect of the distal fibula, consistentwith fracture. Plain radiography failed to demonstrate a fracture. Later, the fracture was identifiedas a Weber B distal fibular fracture by stress-view radiography. This case reviews the evaluation ofacute ankle injuries in the ED and the utility of POCUS as a supplemental imaging modality in theevaluation of ankle fracture.
Case 11-2017 — A 61-Year-Old Woman with Leg Swelling, Back Pain, and Hydronephrosis

A 61-year-old woman presented with a 3-month history of leg swelling and back pain. Imaging revealed a large retroperitoneal mass with hydronephrosis. A diagnostic procedure was performed, and management decisions were made.
The grip of trauma: How trauma disrupts the academic aspirations of foster youth.

Abstract The academic challenges foster youth encounter during their P-12 education have been widely reported. Yet, despite these challenges, the majority of foster youth desire postsecondary education. What is less known is the reason why so few foster youth alumni who desire a four-year college degree, achieve this goal. For the participants in this four-year longitudinal study, maltreatment, resulting in foster care placement, and the ensuing exposure to the foster care system, resulted in trauma histories and mental health diagnoses. Anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were the most common diagnosis. The participants shared the ways in which these mental health challenges manifested throughout their college education. Of those in the study, almost half successfully graduated from college, a third dropped out, and only two remain enrolled. This study provides a unique and critical insight into the experiences of foster youth, enrolled in a four-year university, by sharing their stories
Laser frequency stabilization for ion optical clocks at NIST

The Ion Storage Group at NIST develops stable optical cavities, which enable our trapped-ion optical clocks. I will give an overview of these efforts and describe a new cryogenic cavity with significantly reduced thermal noise.
Does Insider Trading Law Change Behavior? An Empirical Analysis

Few issues in securities law have excited the popular imagination and generated scholarly interest like insider trading. Yet, a simple but foundational question about insider trading law has received relatively little scholarly attention: Does insider trading law actually influence the amount of insider trading that occurs? This Article tackles this question in the context of one of the highest-profile changes in insider trading law in decades — the Second Circuit’s seminal 2014 decision in United States v. Newman, which substantially weakened insider trading law concerning so called “tippee” liability. The Article’s empirical approach exploits Newman’s change in law to empirically evaluate the effects of changes in insider trading law on insider trading. The Article focuses on insider trading in advance of mergers announced in periods before and after Newman and, for its measure of the extent of insider trading, uses the runup in the stock price of the merger target in advance of the merger’s public announcement. Based on that measure, the Article finds that Newman had a dramatic effect on insider trading, with significantly greater insider trading occurring after Newman than before, thereby providing empirical evidence that insider trading is responsive to changes in insider trading law. The Article provides the first empirical analysis of whether and the extent to which a specific judicial change in insider trading law can influence the amount of insider trading beyond just the trading of corporate insiders. The Article’s empirical findings advance our understanding of the functioning of securities law and inform important policy debates concerning insider trading.
The Equity Premium Puzzle

On average, equities historically deliver returns that exceed those on safe assets by several percentages every year. Over time and in nearly all developed economies, the equity risk premium is considerable. Yet puzzles persist. Despite that premium, why do so many potential investors avoid holding stocks? Stock market nonparticipation is a major contributory to social insecurity, particularly in the USA, where many aging households are financially unprepared for retirement. The equity premium puzzle consists of two parts. First, why are risk-free rates so low? Second, why do equities command a premium beyond the level that any realistic model of risk aversion would predict? The answer lies in habit formation over the course of the economic life-cycle. Unlike other components of aggregate wealth, human capital cannot be readily traded. Returns on human capital in the form of wages are peculiarly vulnerable to job loss during recessions and economic downturns. Maintaining an ever more comfortable lifestyle—catching up with the Joneses, so to speak—exposes households to macroeconomic risks that conventional asset pricing models do not fully reflect.
New 5-Factor Modified Frailty Index Using American College of Surgeons NSQIP Data

Background The modified frailty index (mFI-11) is a NSQIP-based 11-factor index that has been proven to adequately reflect frailty and predict mortality and morbidity. These 11 factors, made of 16 variables, map to the original 70-item Canada Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index. In past years, certain NSQIP variables have been removed from the database; as of 2015, only 5 of the original 11 factors remained. The predictive power and usefulness of these 5 factors in an index (mFI-5) have not been proven in past literature. The goal of our study was to compare the mFI-5 to the mFI-11 in terms of value and predictive ability for mortality, postoperative infection, and unplanned 30-day readmission. Study Design The mFI was calculated by dividing the number of factors present for a patient by the number of available factors for which there were no missing data. Spearman's rho was used to assess correlation between the mFI-5 and mFI-11. Predictive models, using both unadjusted and adjusted logistic regressions, were created for each outcome for 9 surgical sub-specialties using 2012 NSQIP data, the last year all mFI-11 variables existed. Results Correlation between the mFI-5 and mFI-11 was above 0.9 across all surgical specialties except for cardiac and vascular surgery. Adjusted and unadjusted models showed similar c-statistics for mFI-5 and mFI-11, and strong predictive ability for mortality and postoperative complications. Conclusions The mFI-5 and the mFI-11 are equally effective predictors in all sub-specialties and the mFI-5 is a strong predictor of mortality and postoperative complications. It has credibility for future use to study frailty within the NSQIP database. It also has potential in other databases and for clinical use.
Workplace homicide: industries and occupations at high risk.

Homicide is to blame for 20 workplace deaths each week. Although no single intervention strategy will be appropriate in all situations, the author points out that interventions cannot be designed without knowledge of the demographic characteristics of victims and the distribution of workplace violence across industries and occupations. Such data are presented by gender, age, race, geographic distribution, method of homicide, and industry and occupation. Language: en
Methods for Assessing the Economic Impacts of Government R&D

Abstract : Analyses of the actual or potential economic impacts of U.S. Government Research & Development (R&D) programs have used a number of distinctly different methodologies, which, in turn, has led to considerable confusion and controversy. In addition, particular methodologies have been applied with different levels of expertise, resulting in widely divergent impact assessments for similar types of R&D projects. With increased emphasis on government efficiency, the current state of methodology for strategic planning and retrospective impact analyses is unacceptable. NIST has over the past decade conducted 30 retrospective microeconomic impact studies of its infratechnology (laboratory) research programs. Additional microeconomic studies have been conducted of technology focus areas in its Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and of the aggregate impacts of its Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. In addition, NIST has undertaken prospective (strategic planning) economic studies of technology infrastructure needs in a number of divergent and important industries. From these studies methodologies have evolved for conducting microeconomic analyses of government technology research and transfer programs. The major steps in conducting economic impact studies are identifying and qualifying topics for study, designing an analytical framework and data collection plan, conducting the empirical phase of the study, writing a final report and summaries of that report, and disseminating the results to government policy makers, industry stakeholders, and other interested parties. Based on the NIST experience, this report describes methodologies appropriate for economic impact assessments of Government R&D programs and gives numerous examples of their application to specific studies. Guidelines for interpretation of both qualitative and quantitative results are provided. (9 tables, 5 figures, 35 refs.)
Millennials and Why They Fail in Distance Learning Environments

As distance learning becomes more pervasive in universities all over the world, it has becoming more critical that we not only find better ways to deliver content over the Web but also discover how to meet the needs of the learners. This chapter reviews the current trends in online learning and discusses the current and future student population in terms of what they do outside of the classroom. Further we discuss who the millennials are and how they think compared to students of the past. Finally we begin to delve into how video games have changed the lives of today’s youth and how we have begun to embrace this medium as a form of distance education.
The Incidence of Cardiovascular Complications in Prostatic Cancer

Summary (1) Prostatic cancer patients treated with a 5.0 mg daily dose of diethylstilbestrol have an increased incidence of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure associated with ischemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular accidents when compared to placebo in all stages. These complications of estrogen therapy are most likely due to an increased incidence of thromboembolism. (2) Early endocrine treatment of patients with asymptomatic Stage III carcinoma is not indicated. Therapy with diethylstilbestrol, 5.0 mg daily, does not increase the survival of Stage III patients when compared to placebo. The decrease in cancer mortality associated with the 5.0 mg dose of diethylstilbestrol is more than compensated for by an increase in deaths from cardiovascular causes. (3) Endocrine therapy should be started early only in Stage IV patients where its main value is to relieve such cancer symptoms as bone pain. When estrogen is the preferred endocrine treatment, it would seem wise to administer diethylstilbestrol in only a 1.0 mg dose. This is especially true if electrocardiographic abnormalities are present before treatment, even though there may be no previous history of cardiovascular disease.
Floods, Stress Effects of*

Flooding remains the most common catastrophe worldwide and accounts for an estimated 40% of all natural disasters and 26% of disaster-related deaths. Most flood-related deaths are due to flash floods (200/year in the USA). Flooding caused by storm surges accounts for 90% of those who are killed by hurricanes. In the fall of 2005, three hurricanes – Katrina, Rita, and Wilma and tropical storm Tammy caused flooding on the Gulf Coast with flooding of New Orleans and the consequent death of more than 1100 people. Disaster survivors more commonly complain of physical rather than psychological symptoms. Children's symptoms include phobias, nightmares, regression, and bed wetting. Emergency, medical, and other crisis workers usually adapt to stress. However, accumulated exposure to traumatic events can eventually lead to debilitating posttraumatic symptoms.
T4 DNA ligase structure reveals a prototypical ATP-dependent ligase with a unique mode of sliding clamp interaction

DNA ligases play essential roles in DNA replication and repair. Bacteriophage T4 DNA ligase is the first ATP-dependent ligase enzyme to be discovered and is widely used in molecular biology, but its structure remained unknown. Our crystal structure of T4 DNA ligase bound to DNA shows a compact α-helical DNA-binding domain (DBD), nucleotidyl-transferase (NTase) domain, and OB-fold domain, which together fully encircle DNA. The DBD of T4 DNA ligase exhibits remarkable structural homology to the core DNA-binding helices of the larger DBDs from eukaryotic and archaeal DNA ligases, but it lacks additional structural components required for protein interactions. T4 DNA ligase instead has a flexible loop insertion within the NTase domain, which binds tightly to the T4 sliding clamp gp45 in a novel α-helical PIP-box conformation. Thus, T4 DNA ligase represents a prototype of the larger eukaryotic and archaeal DNA ligases, with a uniquely evolved mode of protein interaction that may be important for efficient DNA replication.
Single community-based institutional series of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for treatment of liver metastases

Background: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is a safe and effective option for treatment of liver metastases. However, existing data are mostly reported by high-volume centers. There have been reports that advanced radiotherapy techniques performed at low-volume centers result in inferior outcomes. Our goal was to assess the implementation of SBRT for the treatment of liver metastases at a low-volume center by studying the efficacy and toxicity of this technology through retrospective database review at a single, community-based institution. Methods: We performed an IRB approved patient registry study. Patients had a median age of 65, KPS of at least 70 (median 90) and primary tumor controlled. All patients underwent fiducial marker placement under CT-guidance 1–2 weeks prior to planning scans. Gross tumor volume (GTV) was delineated using contrast enhanced CT scans, as well as fusion with PET and/or MRI scans. GTV was expanded by 5 mm to create the planning target volume (PTV). Treatment was delivered by image guided stereotactic robotic radiosurgery with respiratory motion tracking. Lesions were treated with 3 fractions to a median total dose of 54 Gy. Overall survival, progression-free survival (PFS) and local failure-free survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank statistic was used to compare local control based on GTV volume. Results: Between 2006 and 2016, 42 consecutively treated patients with 81 metastatic liver lesions were treated with SBRT. Median follow-up was 25 months. Major primary tumor sites were colon (n=18) and lung (n=7). Synchronous extrahepatic disease was present in 15% of the treated lesions and 46% had prior local treatment of liver metastases. The number of lesions treated concurrently ranged from 1 to 4. Lesions had a median maximum diameter of 2.5 cm (range, 0.5–9.5 cm), and a mean volume of 53 cc (range, 0.5– 363.0 cc). Kaplan-Meier estimated 1- and 2-year overall survival was 72% and 62%. Estimated 1- and 2-year progression free survival was 32% and 23%. Estimated 1- and 2-year local control was 86% and 80%. Two year local control was worse for lesions >50 cc compared to lesions ≤50 cc (62% vs . 84%, P=0.04). Toxicity occurred in 26% of treatment courses and included grade 1 (n=12) and grade 2 toxicity (n=3). Conclusions: These results are comparable to available published data regarding the safety and efficacy of liver metastasis SBRT on trial at high volume institutions. Our findings, therefore, demonstrate the successful implementation of a liver metastasis SBRT program in the low-volume, community-hospital setting. These findings suggest that low-volume and high-volume centers are both options for liver metastasis SBRT.
CHAPTER 14 – Cellular Mechanisms of Age-Related Bone Loss

This chapter focuses on the current knowledge about the aging of bone that is independent of acute loss of sex hormones, leading to the so-called “senile osteoporosis,” with emphasis on the changes in the biology of bone cells that can be traced to the effects of aging. The mechanisms that cause the attenuation of bone turnover and, ultimately, loss of bone and bone fragility with age have not been fully elucidated to date. However, it is clear that aging has a major impact on the structure and function of bone marrow, which contains the progenitors for both osteogenic and osteoclastic cells. Bone marrow stroma contains progenitors that give rise to several different phenotypes, including osteogenic cells, hematopoiesis-supportive cells, and adipocytes. With aging, there is a shift in balance from a stroma that actively supports osteogenesis and exuberant hematopoiesis to one that is primarily adipogenic and supports an altered form of hematopoiesis. The combined effect of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on bone marrow stromal cells decreases their ability to support osteoclast formation. Based on current evidence, it would appear that the primary cause of age-related bone loss is based on the inability of bone marrow stromal cells to deposit adequate amounts of bone to compensate for the amount removed by osteoclasts. Furthermore, it is possible that decreases in osteoclastic resorption lead to the accumulation of bone of inferior quality because of changes in the material properties and microfractures.
Projection of 21st century irrigation water requirement across the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Abstract Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) is the largest floodplain and one of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States. Irrigation is widely used in this region to improve crop production and resource use efficiency due to a mismatch between crop water requirements and precipitation timing and quantity during the growing season. In the recent decades, aquifer decline caused by groundwater withdrawals for irrigation has been recognized as a critical environmental issue threatening water security and agricultural sustainability in the LMAV. To improve agricultural water use efficiency and reduce groundwater withdrawals, it is pivotal to understand the spatiotemporal patterns of crop irrigation water requirements (IWR). In this study, we analyzed future climate changes over the LMAV cropland areas and estimated future IWR changes for major crops in the 21st century using two climate scenarios (i.e. RCP45 and RCP85) and two crop growth duration length (GDL) scenarios [i.e. Fixed GDL (GDL does not change with time) and Varied GDL (GDL changes with time)]. Results show that croplands in the LMAV would experience continuous warming, and either no significant change or a decreasing level of precipitation under the RCP45 and the RCP85. If keeping current cropland areas and cropping systems unchanged, average crop IWR by the end of the 21st century would increase by 4.2% under the RCP45 + Varied GDL scenario, 14.5% under the RCP45 + Fixed GDL scenario, 9.2% under the RCP85 + Varied GDL scenario, and 29.4% under the RCP85 + Fixed GDL scenario. The greatest increases would occur in the summer months. Aquifer levels in the LMAV, therefore, are expected to decline at an accelerated pace if no effective mitigation strategies are implemented. This study made the first attempt to reveal the spatially-explicit crop IWR and its future changes in the LMAV, which provides a scientific basis for developing management strategies that can enhance water use efficiency and improve agriculture sustainability.
Turkish ISIS and AQ Foreign Fighters: Reconciling the Numbers and Perception of the Terrorism Threat

AbstractThis article attempts to establish a database of the numbers of the Turkish ISIS and AQ foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and their profiles through open sources, available news articles an...
Transcutaneous Aortic Valve Implantation

Non-rheumatic, degenerative aortic stenosis is overwhelmingly a disease of the elderly. As many as 300,000 individuals in the United States have symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS). Prior studies suggest that patients with asymptomatic but hemodynamically significant AS have a high risk of dying or developing symptoms. A Mayo Clinic study demonstrated that the 1, 2, and 5 year probabilities of remaining free from operation or death were 80%, 63%, and 25% respectively in a cohort of 622 patients (Pellikka et al. 2005). The development of symptoms portends a high risk of death (Carabello 2002). Surgical intervention with mechanical or tissue prosthetic valves has long been the gold standard for treatment. Improved operative techniques and more durable valvular prostheses have resulted in excellent functional status and patient survival. While operative mortality at experienced centers with careful patient selection is low, frequently patients with calcific AS have increased operative risk (O’Brien et al. 2009). As such, a third to half of elderly patients with symptomatic AS are not candidates for operative intervention due to advanced age or severe co-morbidities (Bouma et al. 1999). Percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty has not resulted in long-term relief, with early restenosis the rule.
Recognition of primary hyperparathyroidism: Delayed time course from hypercalcemia to surgery.

Abstract Background Under recognition of primary hyperparathyroidism can lead to delays in diagnosis and surgical management. We aimed to establish a time course for primary hyperparathyroidism from initial hypercalcemia to surgery and evaluate the impact of guidelines for surgical referral on this time course. Methods A retrospective review was conducted on all patients undergoing parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism in 2013 at the Cleveland Clinic. Patients were stratified by adherence to 2008 indications for surgery guidelines, age, calcium values, osteoporosis, history of nephrolithiasis, 24-hour urinary calcium values, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Results 219 patients with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism underwent initial surgery. Twenty-three (10.5%) normocalcemic patients were excluded. Time course from initial hypercalcemia to surgery was 3.9 years for 137 (70%) patients who met objective guideline criteria versus 3.8 years for 59 (30%) patients who did not meet objective guideline criteria (P = .87). Stratification by age 11.5 mg/dL revealed earlier times to surgery. However, osteoporosis, nephrolithiasis, 24-hour urinary calcium values, and estimated glomerular filtration rate had no impact. Conclusion There is a delayed time course for patients with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism from initial hypercalcemia to surgery. Despite published objective criteria, one third of the patients who underwent surgery did not meet criteria, signifying the importance of clinician and patient decision making. Furthermore, patients with osteoporosis and nephrolithiasis who can significantly benefit from surgical cure have no apparent impact on the time to surgery. Overall, the objective guideline criteria have no effect in referral patterns suggesting a call for revision.
Generation of human thalamus atlases from 7 T data and application to intrathalamic nuclei segmentation in clinical 3 T T1-weighted images.

Abstract The thalamus serves as the central relay station for the brain. It processes and relays sensory and motor signals between different subcortical regions and the cerebral cortex and it can be divided into several neuronal clusters referred to as nuclei. Each of these can possibly be subdivided into sub-nuclei. Accurate and reliable identification of thalamic nuclei is important for surgical interventions and neuroanatomical studies. This is however a challenging task because the small size of the nuclei and the lack of contrast over the thalamus region in clinically acquired images does not permit the visualization of their boundaries. A number of methods have been developed for thalamus parcellation but the vast majority of these relies on diffusion imaging or functional imaging. The low resolution of these images only permit localizing the largest nuclei. In this work we propose a method to segment smaller nuclei. We first present a protocol to build histological-like atlases from a series of high-field (7 Tesla) MR images acquired with different pulse sequences that each permits to visualize the boundaries of a subset of the nuclei. We use this protocol to scan 9 subjects and we manually delineate 23 thalamic nuclei following the Morel atlas naming convention for each of these subjects. Manual contours for the nuclei are subsequently utilized to create statistical shape models. With these data, we compare four methods for the segmentation of thalamic nuclei in 3 T images we have also acquired for the 9 subjects included in the study: (1) single atlas, (2) multi atlas, (3) statistical shape, and (4) hierarchical statistical shape in which thalamic nuclei are hierarchically fitted to the images, starting from the largest ones. Results of a leave-one-out validation study conducted on the nine image sets we have acquired show that the multi atlas approach improves upon the single atlas approach for most nuclei. Segmentations obtained with the hierarchical statistical shape model yield the highest accuracy, with dice coefficients ranging from 0.53 to 0.90, mean surface errors from 0.27 mm to 0.64 mm, and maximum surface errors from 1.31 mm to 2.52 mm for all nuclei averaged across test cases. This suggests the feasibility of using such approach for localizing thalamic substructures in clinically acquired MR volumes. It may have a direct impact on surgeries such as Deep Brain Stimulation procedures that require the implantation of stimulating electrodes in specific thalamic nuclei.
Fully screen-printed bifacial large area 22.6% N-type Si solar cell with lightly doped ion-implanted boron emitter and tunnel oxide passivated rear contact

Abstract We report on the fabrication of fully screen-printed bifacial large area (239 cm2) high-efficiency n-type Si solar cells with ion-implanted homogeneous boron emitter on the front side and carrier-selective tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) on the rear. Our phosphorus-doped poly-Si/SiOx passivated contact with SiNx capping layer gave excellent surface passivation with a very low recombination current density (J0_TOPCon) of ~1 fA/cm2 after a simulated firing treatment at ~770 °C without metallization. After screen-printed and fire-through metallization on n-TOPCon with ~13% metal coverage, metallized J0_TOPCon value increased to only ~5 fA/cm2. In addition, homogenous boron implanted emitter (~180 Ω/) passivated with ALD Al2O3 layer capped with PECVD SiNx/SiOx double-layer antireflection (DLAR) coating gave excellent passivation with emitter recombination current density of ~12 fA/cm2 prior to metallization. The industrial screen-printed, fire-through contacts with floating busbars on this boron emitter gave metallized emitter recombination current density of ~31 fA/cm2. This resulted in a low-cost industrial screen-printed n-type bifacial Si solar cell with 22.6% efficiency and 702 mV open-circuit voltage (Voc).
Elemental composition of teff (a gluten-free grain), maize and wheat: Staple crops in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley

Teff, maize, and wheat are the major cereals grown in volcanic ash-rich soils of the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. Teff is a gluten-free cereal native to Ethiopia, used for making a local flat bread called injera, and is getting popularity globally due to its nutritional value (gluten-free and high fiber content). Teff can thus be an alternative diet for the treatment of celiac disease, a lifelong intolerance to gluten. This study aims to assess the distribution of toxic and essential elements in these staple cereals using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and compare with mineral composition of wheat, and maize consumed in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley. We found significantly higher mean concentrations (in mg/kg) of Mg (1400), Ca (1210), Na (33), Fe (159), Mn (71), Sr (5.6), and Cu (4.8) in teff compared to wheat and maize. Maize had the lowest concentrations of these essential elements. Mean concentrations (in μg/kg) of As (24.7) and Pb (70) in teff were relatively higher compared to wheat and maize, which had similar values of As (4.5) and Pb (8.9). Teff and wheat had similar Cd concentrations (in μg/kg) of 4.8 and 5.4 respectively compared to maize (1.5). Cadmium concentrations were below the Codex standard established for Cd in cereal grains (100 μg/kg). Only one teff sample exceeded the Codex standard set for Pb (200 μg/kg) in cereal grains. This study provides information on nutritional values and food safety of maize, wheat, and teff; the latter is becoming an alternative gluten-free diet for celiac patients in countries where wheat is commonly a staple food.
„Jetzt ist alles aus“: meine dämlichste Komplikation bei der transvenösen Device-Implantation: Und eine schnelle Lösung

Der Verlust des Fuhrungsdrahts in der V. subclavia stellt bei der Schrittmacher-Implantation mit Zugang uber Punktion in Seldinger-Technik eine unangenehme Komplikation dar. Mittels erneuter Punktion und Nutzung eines Gooseneck-Snares kann dieses Problem jedoch schnell und folgenlos beherrscht werden.
Effects of interaction strength of associating groups on linear and star polymer dynamics

A small number of associating groups incorporated onto a polymer backbone have dramatic effects on the mobility and viscoelastic response of the macromolecules in melts. These associating groups assemble, driving the formation of clusters, whose lifetime affects the properties of the polymers. Here, we probe the effects of the interaction strength on the structure and dynamics of two topologies, linear and star polymer melts, and further investigate blends of associative and non-associating polymers using molecular dynamics simulations. Polymer chains of approximately one entanglement length are described by a bead–spring model, and the associating groups are incorporated in the form of interacting beads with an interaction strength between them that is varied from 1 to 20 kBT. We find that, for all melts and blends, interaction of a few kBT between the associating groups drives cluster formation, where the size of the clusters increases with increasing interaction strength. These clusters act as physical crosslinkers, which slow the chain mobility. Blends of chains with and without associating groups macroscopically phase separate for interaction strength between the associating groups of a few kBT and above. For weakly interacting associating groups, the static structure function S(q) is well fit by functional form predicted by the random phase approximation where a clear deviation occurs as phase segregation takes place, providing a quantitative assessment of phase segregation.