cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Use of fluorescent techniques for understanding the effect of non thermal plasma discharge on the E. coli cell

It has been demonstrated that ambient air non-thermal plasma discharges are very effective in inactivating various microorganisms. Plasma is being considered as a potent sterilization technology. It is important to understand the biological effect of plasma on bacteria. Fluorescent techniques are often employed by cell biologists to detect cellular phenomenon. These phenomena include changes in pH, membrane permeation and certain cellular reactions. The LIVE/DEAD® BacLight™ Bacterial Viability Kit (Molecular Probes, Eugene OR) consists of two stains that are used to detect live and dead bacteria in large bacterial populations. These stains are Propidium Iodide (PI) and SYTO 9. The SYTO 9 (Green) stain permeates the membranes of all bacteria, whereas the PI (Red) stain only permeates the bacteria whose membrane has been irreversibly damaged. Hence the ratio of Green to Red fluorescence is considered the Live/Dead ratio. This kit has been used successfully to detect live bacteria in soil, milk and other environmental samples. It has also been used to determine the effectiveness of bactericidal treatments. E. coli bacteria were grown overnight and suspended in solution. The solution was treated with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma. The viable counts using plating techniques and colony forming unit (CFU) counting indicate ∼2log reduction in the concentration of live bacteria. For the same treatment dose, the LIVE/DEAD® kit was added to the samples after they were plasma treated and then they were analyzed under a fluorescent microscope. Multiple fields of vision were analyzed and statistical analysis was performed on the samples. The results indicate that the number of bacteria fluorescing red was significantly lower than the expected number from viable counts. This indicates that membrane permeation is not the major cause of plasma induced inactivation of these bacteria. Further experiments are being performed to understand the effect of plasma treatment on the cellular respiration and other potential avenues for inactivation of the bacteria.
Current Topics in Gamma-Ray Astrophysics.

This paper reports on recent progress toward untraveling the origin of gamma-ray bursts. It is concluded that neutron-star binaries are one of the few remaining candidates. A model is proposed based upon general relativistic hydrodynamic studies which indicate a new physical process by which to power a gamma-ray burst. Relativistically driven compression, heating, and collapse of the individual neutron stars can occur many seconds before inspiral and merger. This compression may produce a neutrino burst of {approximately}10{sup 53} ergs lasting several seconds. The associated thermal neutrino emission produces an e{sup +}-e{sup {minus}} pair plasma by {nu}{anti {nu}} annihilation. They show first results of a simulated burst which produces {approximately}10{sup 51} erg in {gamma} rays of the correct spectral and temporal properties.
Generalizing Image Captions for Image-Text Parallel Corpus

The ever growing amount of web images and their associated texts offers new opportunities for integrative models bridging natural language processing and computer vision. However, the potential benefits of such data are yet to be fully realized due to the complexity and noise in the alignment between image content and text. We address this challenge with contributions in two folds: first, we introduce the new task of image caption generalization, formulated as visually-guided sentence compression, and present an efficient algorithm based on dynamic beam search with dependency-based constraints. Second, we release a new large-scale corpus with 1 million image-caption pairs achieving tighter content alignment between images and text. Evaluation results show the intrinsic quality of the generalized captions and the extrinsic utility of the new imagetext parallel corpus with respect to a concrete application of image caption transfer.
Characterization of Cre recombinase models for the study of adipose tissue

The study of adipose tissue in vivo has been significantly advanced through the use of genetic mouse models. While the aP2-Cre(BI) and aP2-Cre(Salk) lines have been widely used to target adipose tissue, the specificity of these lines for adipocytes has recently been questioned. Here we characterize Cre recombinase activity in multiple cell populations of the major adipose tissue depots of these and other Cre lines using the membrane-Tomato/membrane-GFP (mT/mG) dual fluorescent reporter. We find that the aP2-Cre(BI) and aP2-Cre(Salk) lines lack specificity for adipocytes within adipose tissue, and that the aP2-Cre(BI) line does not efficiently target adipocytes in white adipose depots. Alternatively, the Adiponectin-CreERT line shows high efficiency and specificity for adipocytes, while the PdgfRα-CreERUCL and PdgfRα-CreERJHU lines do not efficiently target adipocyte precursor cells in the major adipose depots. Instead, we show that the PdgfRα-Cre line is preferable for studies targeting adipocyte precursor cells in vivo.
Pan and scan: Configuring cameras for coverage

We introduce the pan and scan problem, in which cameras are configured to observe multiple target locations. This is representative example within a broad family of problems in which multiple sensing devices are deployed, each in general observing multiple targets. A camera's configuration here consists of its orientation and its zoom factor or field of view (its position is given); the quality of a target's reading by a camera depends (inversely) on both the distance and field of view. After briefly discussing an easy setting in which a target accumulates measurement quality from all cameras observing it, we move on to a more challenging setting in which for each target only the best measurement of it is counted. Although both variants admit continuous solutions, we observe that we may restrict our attention to solutions based on pinned cones.
A Virtual Human Agent for Assessing Bias in Novice Therapists

Monitoring the psychological and physiological activity of persons interacting with virtual humans poses exacting measurement challenges. Three experiments are reported in this paper. In these experiments we made use of Virtual Human Agent technology to assess persons' psychological and physiological responses to Virtual Standardized Patients. The first experiment provided support for the usability of the Virtual Standardized Patients through the use of a virtual character emulating an adolescent male with conduct disorder. In the second experiment we further developed the technology and aimed at assessing whether novice mental health clinicians could conduct an interview with a virtual character that emulates an adolescent female who has recently been physically traumatized. The third experiment looked at the usability of Virtual Standardized Patients for eliciting psychophysiological responses following exposure to virtual humans representing different ethnicities.
Adaptive beamforming for DS-CDMA using conjugate gradient algorithm in a multipath fading channel

An antenna array-based base station receiver for wireless DS-CDMA with conjugate gradient (CG) adaptation in a multipath fading channel is studied. In order to construct a beamformer RAKE receiver, the existing code-filtering approach is used for each resolvable multipath component of the desired user, however, with another way to determine the optimum antenna weights. Thus, the desired user's signal is enhanced and the co-channel interference from other directions is reduced. The average uncoded bit error rate (BER) as a function of the average antenna signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the number of receiving antennas is examined in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel. Simulation results show an increase in system capacity proportional to the number of antennas.
Traffic Flow Models and Service Rules for Complex Production Systems

We present an overview over recent developments of traffic flow models for production networks. Particular emphasis is given to the implementation of service rules for complex systems, involving multiple product types and re-entrant loops. A rather general scheduling concept is introduced and demonstrated on some numerical experiments.
Participatory Change in a Campaign Led by Sex Workers: Connecting Resistance to Action-Oriented Agency

Studies predict that the number of HIV infections among commercial sex workers (CSWers) in India may rise to 3.93 million. Efforts have been made to stem the tide. But most campaigns have been designed to ensure condom compliance among CSWers by spreading awareness and increasing availability. Absent from the discursive space of such campaigns are the agency of CSWers and their ability to resist dominant social structures. The authors respond to this lacuna in health communication by foregrounding voices of CSWers participating in two HIV/AIDS interventions in India. Based on the culture-centered approach to health communication and subaltern studies theory, it examines data from two sites to analyze how communicative narratives of agency and resistance are enacted in the marginalized lives of sex workers.
Validation of the VBLaST: A Virtual Peg Transfer Task in Gynecologic Surgeons.

Abstract Study Objective To validate the Virtual Basic Laparoscopic Skill Trainer (VBLaST-PT; the peg transfer task) for concurrent validity based on its ability to differentiate between novice, intermediate, and expert groups of gynecologists, and the gynecologists' subjective preference between the physical Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) system and the virtual reality system. Design Prospective study (Canadian Task Force II-2). Setting Academic medical center. Participants Obstetrics and gynecology residents (n = 18) and attending gynecologists (n = 9). Interventions Twenty-seven subjects were divided into 3 groups: novices (n = 9), intermediates (n = 9), and experts (n = 9). All subjects performed 10 trials of the peg transfer on each simulator. Assessment of laparoscopic performance was based on FLS scoring, whereas a questionnaire was used for subjective evaluation. Measurements and Main Results The performance scores in the 2 simulators were nearly identical. Experts performed better than intermediates and novices in both the FLS trainer and the VBLAST, and intermediates performed better than novices in both simulators. The results also show a significant learning effect on both trainers for all subgroups; however, the greatest learning effect was in the novice group for both trainers. Subjectively, 74% participants preferred the FLS over the VBLaST for training laparoscopic surgical skills. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the peg transfer task was reproduced well in the VBLaST in gynecologic surgeons and trainees. The VBLaST has the potential to be a valuable tool in laparoscopic training for gynecologic surgeons.
Some Reflections on Learning and Not Learning to Read

There seems to be increasing agreement among researchers from different specialties concerning the problems of reading disability. There has been considerable progress especially in the analysis of reading processes in a way applicable to reading disability. Especially important is the centrality of linguistic factors, including those important for decoding. However there is still much to know about the exact nature of these linguistic abilities and their role in reading ability and disability. It is likely that the study of reading disabled populations will not illuminate this role without the study of broader ranges of ability.
In situ velocity estimates for shallow crystalline rocks in the Adirondack Mountains, New York and the Laramie Range, Wyoming

Abstract An analysis of near-surface COCORP seismic data provides in situ P -wave velocities for various outcropping Precambrian metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks along reflection lines in the Adirondack Mountains, New York and the Laramie Range, Wyoming. Calculated velocities range from 5.4 to 6.4 km/sec for 12 outcropping lithologies. Significant contrasts exist even between crystalline rocks with similar geologic histories, implying that even simple geologic contacts within crystalline provinces may be imaged in the lower crust.
Changing the Way We Tax All Businesses: The Case for Rational Uniformity

The article argues for a single type of tax structure for all businesses, whether a corporation, a partnership, or sole proprietorship, whether large or small, and whether or not they derive their income from services or capital or both. The leading studies on how we should tax business have proposed separate and quite different structures for public and private businesses. This article discusses the inequities and complexities generated by these disparate proposals and instead focuses on the benefits of a single regime somewhat similar to some consumption tax proposals, combining some (but hardly all) features of the Flat Tax and the USA Tax, without the narrow bases of most Value Added Taxes. My proposal is more consistent with the tax structure of other developed countries and would enable us to compete more favorably with our major trading partners. Moreover, it would allow small businesses to participate with our major corporations in global trading, in both the emerging technology services and capital sectors. By eliminating the outdated and hypertechnical partnership tax structure and by extending the proposals to integrate the corporate and individual tax, we achieve a more rational and efficient taxation of business income.
DEONTIC LOGICS OF DEFEASIBILITY

A normative rule (for example, “one ought to do A given B”) is defeasible in a normative system S iff S contains another rule to the effect that one ought not do A given BC that is, the rule is defeated when someone violates the rule not to use force. And the rule permitting force in self defense is itself defeasible since one may not use force even in self defense if one believes he is being restrained by a policeman (Nozick, 1968).
Low-Temperature Magnetic Spectroscopy of Dilute Magnetic Systems

Optically induced magnetization has been observed in a 10 micron diameter sample of Cd.8Mn.2Te. A newly developed integrated SQUID magnetic spectrometer was used to study both the magnitude and the picosecond dynamics of the magnetic response as function of the energy and polarization of the optical excitation. The dramatic energy dependence of the response provides an understanding of the way in which the overall sample magnetization changes upon illumination, and the subsequent relaxation through the spin lattice interaction.
Hepatic failure and lactic acidosis due to fialuridine (fiau), an investigational nucleoside analogue for chronic hepatitis b

Background We describe severe and unexpected multisystem toxicity that occurred during a study of the antiviral nucleoside analogue fialuridine (1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-d-arabinofuranosyl)-5-iodouracil, or FIAU) as therapy for chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Methods Fifteen patients with chronic hepatitis B were randomly assigned to receive fialuridine at a dose of either 0.10 or 0.25 mg per kilogram of body weight per day for 24 weeks and were monitored every 1 to 2 weeks by means of a physical examination, blood tests, and testing for hepatitis B virus markers. Results During the 13th week lactic acidosis and liver failure suddenly developed in one patient. The study was terminated on an emergency basis, and all treatment with fialuridine was discontinued. Seven patients were found to have severe hepatotoxicity, with progressive lactic acidosis, worsening jaundice, and deteriorating hepatic synthetic function despite the discontinuation of fialuridine. Three other patients had mild hepatotoxicity. Se...
Production of milligram quantities of H-2K and thy-1 alloantigens by large-scale mammalian cell culture.

SummaryA system for the production of milligram quantities of cell-surface alloanti-gens is presented. This system consists of 70- and 200-liter mammalian cell culture vessels capable of growing murine T-cell lines in suspension culture. The two cell lines examined exhibited superior growth properties in these vessels than in small spinner flasks. Expression of H-2Kk and Thy-1 alloantigens were higher on these cell lines than normal thymocytes. Approximately 3 μmole of Thy-1.1 and 500 nmole of H-2Kk antigens were produced in an 8-day period. The potential of the large-scale mammalian cell culture approach is briefly discussed.
Spatial Distribution of Preimaginal Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) in Cotton and Development of Fixed-Precision Sequential Sampling Plans

Studies were conducted to examine distributional patterns of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) eggs and nymphs on two cultivars of upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., and one American Pima cotton, G. barbadense L., and to develop efficient sampling plans for estimating densities of immatures. On a per square centimeter basis, both eggs and nymphs were equally distributed among the four leaf sectors delineated by the major leaf veins. This pattern was independent of the nodal location of the leaf, cultivar, or sampling date. However, based on counts on 3.88-cm2 disks near the petiole of the leaf, both egg and nymphal were aggregated at the proximal end of each sector. The relationship between disk and whole leaf counts varied with nodal position and cultivar. The greatest number of eggs and nymphs were found on mainstem leaves from nodes 2–4 and 4–7 (mainstem terminal = node 1), respectively. This pattern changed slightly with time but was similar among the three cultivars. The lowest coefficients of variation were associated with leaf counts from nodes 4–5 and 5–6 for eggs and nymphs, respectively. Based on variance partitioning and sampling cost analysis, a single 3.88-cm2 disk from the base of the second sector of the fifth mainstern node leaf was determined to be the most efficient sample unit for estimating egg and nymphal densities. Sequential sampling stop lines were calculated for this sample unit using Green's (1970) method. Sample plan validation using Monte Carlo simulation indicated that actual levels of precision (SEM/mean) were poorer than those specified at low densities of immatures and better than specified at high densities. Further simulations indicated that stop lines for specified precisions of 0.20, 0.25, or 0.30 would maintain an average precision of 0.25 when egg or nymphal densities are 100 per leaf disk, respectively. These sampling plans allow efficient monitoring for pest management application and will aid the study of B. tabaci population dynamics in cotton.
Ring stacking in solutions of norepinephrine and the 4:1 norepinephrine . ATP complex.

In D2O (pD 6.8), increasing concentrations of norepinephrine were accompanied by an upfield shift of the phenyl proton signal. At all concentrations the addition of 1 mole of ATP for 4 moles of the amine caused the signal to move further upfield. To delineate stacking from other electronic processes in solutions of norepinephrine, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a pure hydrogen bond acceptor, was utilized. In this solvent, increasing concentrations of norepinephrine were accompanied by a downfield shift of the phenyl proton signal, whereas phenylethylamine, a compound incapable of hydrogen bonding, showed no change. The downfield shift observed with norepinephrine was explained by increased hydrogen bonding between catechol OH groups in the more concentrated solutions. If hydrogen bonding were the only factor influencing the magnetic field, the replacement of DMSO by D2O, a hydrogen bond donator and acceptor, should cause a continuous downfield shift of the phenyl proton signal. In 0.5 M norepinephrine the signal moved downfield until the D2O reached 80 volumes/100 volumes but then reversed its course. The upfield shift was attributed to stacking of the aromatic rings. In all mixtures of DMSO and D2O, the phenyl proton signal of norepinephrine was moved upfield by the addition of adenosine. These shifts were explained by the formation of complexes between the adenine and catechol rings. In D2O, ATP produced a greater upfield shift than did adenosine. This observation indicated augmented ring stacking in the catecholamine· ATP complexes. In D2O, increasing the temperature of the norepinephrine·ATP complex from 28° to 80° caused a downfield shift of the phenyl—H and adenine 2H signals, whereas the adenine 8H showed no change. The phenyl—H signal of norepinephrine alone was not affected by temperature. These observations are in harmony with a Dreiding model of the 4:1 norepinephrine·ATP complex in which the adenine 2H is located between two catechol rings.
Application of Network Intelligence Analysis and Management in Electric Power Enterprises

The paper introduces the background of network intelligence analysis and management,and the content and requirement of network intelligence analysis system based on informatization,and also describes the significance of network intelligence analysis and management in electric power enterprises.
Abstract P3-07-17: Analysis of the National cancer data base 2010-2012 oncotype DX breast cancer assay: Lessons learned

Oncotype DX (OD) 21-gene breast cancer (BC) assay is used for testing of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) early stage BC and provides a low, intermediate or high 10-year risk recurrence score (LRS, IRS, HRS) for BC. Scores are used as guidelines to predict the probability of successfully adding adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) to endocrine therapy (ET) to reduce the risk of BC recurrence. In retrospective analysis of 2 clinical trials, patients (pts) with HRS benefited from addition of AC to ET, no benefits were shown for LRS, and benefits of AC for IRS were not clear. The OD assay has been utilized since 2004, but data on the impact of using assay results in clinical practice across the US are lacking. The TAILORx and RxPONDER prospective clinical trials which are using OD scores are ongoing (results will be available in 2017 and 2022, respectively) and may help clinicians better understand the predictive capabilities of the IRS OD score. We analyzed the current impact of IRS OD score in a retrospective observational study of the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) (which represents 75% of the US population) from 2010-2012. This time period encompasses the beginning of required recording of molecular assays and the latest data released by NCDB in 4/2015. Demographic and clinical variables of all pts with IRS results were analyzed using frequency statistics, chi-square and logistic regression analysis. Data from 24260/27995 pts with IRS and documented AC information was analyzed. 11520=47.4% pts received AC. Age ranged from 20-90 (mean 58.4, median 59 years); 99.2% were ER+ and females, 2.7% were HER2+; 6143=25.3% had T1a, T1b or T3 tumors; 19791=81.5% were N0, 3684=15.1% N1; 17950=73.6% had ≥G2 tumors and 3389=14% had lymphvascular invasion (LVI). IRS OD result had poor PPV for the administration of AC (47.4%). AC administration was significantly associated with larger tumors, LN+, LVI, high tumor grade, higher TNM stage, younger age and black race (p 0.05). Medicare pts were less likely to receive AC than ones with private insurance (p Our data analysis reveals that additional guidelines for selection of pts for OD testing and new algorithms for AC administration in the IRS subsets are needed. The authors of this abstract solicit a call to action from interested parties on behalf of the patients affected by this conundrum. Citation Format: Orucevic A, Heidel RE, Bell JL. Analysis of the National cancer data base 2010-2012 oncotype DX breast cancer assay: Lessons learned. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-07-17.
Abstract 2601: Gingerol aspirinate derivatives as novel chemopreventive agents for colon cancer

Regular aspirin use has been convincingly shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. However, long-term use of aspirin leads to gastrotoxicity. Herein, we designed and synthesized a novel class of gingerol- and shogaol-based aspirin prodrugs to simultaneously release aspirin and gingerol or shogaol to attenuate the side effects caused by aspirin. Prodrug GAS exerted enhanced anticancer activities, which are better than a physical mixture of aspirin and 6-gingerol as well as each individual. In addition, GAS eliminated the gastric toxicity induced by aspirin in mice. Metabolism of GAS in mice showed that the majority of GAS is decomposed to release 6-gingerol and aspirin or salicylic acid either in the intestine or after absorption. Mechanistic studies demonstrate GAS could dose-dependently inhibit COX pathway. These findings highlighted the improved anticancer properties of gingerol-based aspirin prodrugs. GAS may represent novel and safe alternatives of aspirin for the purpose of daily use in the future. Citation Format: Yingdong Zhu, Fang Wang, Yantao Zhao, Pei Wang, Shengmin Sang. Gingerol aspirinate derivatives as novel chemopreventive agents for colon cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2601.
Contemporary Trends in Radiation Oncology Resident Research.

Purpose To test the hypothesis that recent resident research productivity might be different than a decade ago, and to provide contemporary information about resident scholarly activity. Methods and Materials We compiled a list of radiation oncology residents from the 2 most recent graduating classes (June 2014 and 2015) using the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology annual directories. We queried the PubMed database for each resident's first-authored publications from postgraduate years (PGY) 2 through 5, plus a 3-month period after residency completion. We abstracted corresponding historical data for 2002 to 2007 from the benchmark publication by Morgan and colleagues ( Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2009;74:1567-1572). We tested the null hypothesis that these 2 samples had the same distribution for number of publications using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. We explored the association of demographic factors and publication number using multivariable zero-inflated Poisson regression. Results There were 334 residents publishing 659 eligible first-author publications during residency (range 0-17; interquartile range 0-3; mean 2.0; median 1). The contemporary and historical distributions were significantly different ( P International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (17%), Practical Radiation Oncology (7%), and Radiation Oncology (4%). Male gender, non-PhD status, and larger residency size were associated with higher number of publications in the multivariable analysis. Conclusion We observed an increase in first-author publications during training compared with historical data from the mid-2000s. These contemporary figures may be useful to medical students considering radiation oncology, current residents, training programs, and prospective employers.
TCT-485 Effect of Gender on Clinical Outcomes in Patients With or Without Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Results from a Large Single Center Registry

Women with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are at higher risk of early and late major adverse cardiac events (MACE) compared with male subjects. Moreover, previous studies suggest a differential prognostic impact of clinical presentation between
CRISPR-based epigenome editing of cytokine receptors for the promotion of cell survival and tissue deposition in inflammatory environments

Musculoskeletal diseases have been associated with inflammatory cytokine action, particularly action by TNF-α and IL-1β. These inflammatory cytokines promote apoptosis and senescence of cells in diseased tissue and extracellular matrix breakdown. Stem cell-based therapies are being considered for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases, but the presence of these inflammatory cytokines will have similar deleterious action on therapeutic cells delivered to these environments. Methods that prevent inflammatory-induced apoptosis and proinflammatory signaling, in cell and pathway-specific manners are needed. In this study we demonstrate the use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based epigenome editing to alter cell response to inflammatory environments by repressing inflammatory cytokine cell receptors, specifically TNFR1 and IL1R1. We targeted CRISPR/Cas9-based repressors to TNFR1 and IL1R1 gene regulatory elements in human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) and investig...
Cognitive spatial-motor processes. 6. Visuomotor memory scanning.

Fourteen human subjects performed in a modified Sternberg memory-scanning task. First, they made a series of 2-6 movements in different directions from a central point towards peripheral lights on a planar working surface ("list trials"). Then, after a warning signal, one of the previous list stimuli, except the last, was presented again ("test trial"). Subjects were instructed to move in the direction of the stimulus which was presented next in sequence in the list. The mean reaction time (RT) in the test trials increased as a linear function of the number of movements, S, in the list: Mean RT (ms) = 105 + 205.8S (2 less than or equal to S less than or equal to 6). This finding suggests that the task involves memory scanning of visuomotor list items. Language: en
Differentiation and Use of Cardiomyocytes Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

A long-standing need in the field of ­regenerative medicine for improved, humanized cell models for disease has led to a focus on human pluripotent stem cell derivatives. Functional cardiomyocytes, with therapeutic and drug screening potential, have recently been differentiated from human embryonic and induced stem cells. These cells show electrophysiological, contractile, and calcium handling profile similarities with their in vivo counterparts with relatively immature phenotype resembling foetal or diseased cardiomyocytes. Depicting cardiogenic pathways has helped to enhance cardio-differentiation protocols, including increased yield, scaling up, subtype preference and maturation in order to match the strict conditions of therapeutic application. However, severe limitations still hamper their use in clinic. On the other hand, human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes seem excellent candidate for drug testing in high content/throughput screening and for disease modelling. The proximity of these cells to the adult/diseased cardiac phenotype, their scalability and the possibility to convert somatic cells isolated from patients into cardiac cells, has permitted the investigation of heart congenital diseases and makes possible future personalized medicine.
The verb as the main determinant of sentence meaning

Ss sorted simple active sentences which differed only in their agents and verbs into piles on the basis of similarity of meaning. All the sentences that had the same verb but different agents were placed together into one pile by most Ss. It is concluded that the verb of a sentence influences the meaning of the sentence more than does the agent.
Critical kinetic uncertainties in modeling hydrogen/carbon monoxide, methane, methanol, formaldehyde, and ethylene combustion

Abstract In view of the critical role of the underlying uncertainties of the reaction model in future progress of combustion chemistry modeling, Foundational Fuel Chemistry Model 1.0 (FFCM-1) was developed with uncertainty minimization against available fundamental combustion data of H2, H2/CO, CH4, CH2O, and C2H6. As a critical feature, FFCM-1 not only reconciles a large body of fundamental combustion data, it also has rigorously evaluated uncertainties for the rate coefficients, the combustion experimental targets used for model optimization and uncertainty minimization, and most importantly, an optimized reaction model with quantified uncertainties. In the present work, the remaining kinetic uncertainties of FFCM-1 are examined using a perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) as the relevant model platform for which reliable experiments under the conditions tested are unavailable. The key questions to address include the level of improvement from model optimization in the prediction uncertainties of PSR residence times at extinction and ignition and the rate coefficients of reactions that must be improved in order to reduce the prediction uncertainties. Computational tests are made for H2/CO , CH2O , CH4 , CH3OH and C2H4–air mixtures over the pressure range of 10–100 atm and PSR inlet temperatures that would yield residence times comparable to the time scales typical of fuel combustion in practical combustors. The results show that although model optimization reduces the prediction uncertainties of residence time at extinction and ignition, the remaining uncertainties remain rather large. Key reactions for which reduced rate uncertainties would greatly improve the reaction model quality and accuracy have been identified and discussed in detail.
Transport Studies in Ischemic Cerebral Edema

The passage of small and large molecular weight substances across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) was investigated during development of biphasic ischemic edema in the brain. The initial increase in cerebral water content (first phase) preceded increased BBB permeability to Evans blue albumin complex, RISA, dextran, and sucrose. The BBB change for large molecular weight substances was transient and most likely responsible for additional brain swelling (second phase). Moreover, the facilitated transport of 2-deoxy-D-glucose was altered and included an increased passive diffusion of the hexose from blood to brain during the second phase of ischemic cerebral edema.
Ontogenetic diet shifts in Roeboides affinis with morphological comparisons

Fishes of the characid genus Roeboides are documented as lepidophagous, but the degree of specialization on scales varies between species. This study examines ontogenetic changes in morphology and diet of Roeboides dayi and Roeboides affinis from Venezuela. Juveniles of both species feed on microcrustacea and insects during the wet season, when availability of these resources is greatest. As aquatic habitat decreases during the dry season, insect and microcrustacea availability decreases and fish densities increase. As the fish densities increase, scale consumption becomes more profitable. Interspecific differences in the degree of specialization of the teeth and jaws was associated with the degree of scale feeding. Adult R. dayi consumed scales in approximately equal proportions to insects. Adult R. affinis consumes approximately 100% scales, and has more specialized head morphology than R. dayi.
The Voyage of Iceberg B-9

To the layperson the peregrinations of an iceberg may seem too random to be interesting. It turns out, however, that the iceberg can be regarded as an enormous scientific instrument, of the type known to oceanographers as a La grangian current drifter. The standard Lagrangian drifter consists of a buoy and a parachute, or drogue, dangling from the buoy at a known depth. The drogue catches the subsurface current, and the buoy transmits the instrument's position to a ship or satellite. Most ice? bergs are driven mainly by winds and surface currents, but the deep keel of B-9 functioned much like a drogue, causing the iceberg to drift with sub? surface currents. Polar-orbiting weather satellites and a satellite transmitter that
Single-Molecule Analyses Reveal Rhomboid Proteins Are Strict and Functional Monomers in the Membrane

Intramembrane proteases hydrolyze peptide bonds within the membrane as a regulatory paradigm that is conserved across all forms of cellular life. Many of these enzymes are thought to be oligomeric, and that their resulting quaternary interactions form the basis of their regulation. However, technical limitations have precluded directly determining the oligomeric state of intramembrane proteases in any membrane. Using single-molecule photobleaching, we determined the quaternary structure of 10 different rhomboid proteins (the largest superfamily of intramembrane proteases) and six unrelated control proteins in parallel detergent micelle, planar supported lipid bilayer, and whole-cell systems. Bacterial, parasitic, insect, and human rhomboid proteases and inactive rhomboid pseudoproteases all proved to be monomeric in all membrane conditions but dimeric in detergent micelles. These analyses establish that rhomboid proteins are, as a strict family rule, structurally and functionally monomeric by nature and that rhomboid dimers are unphysiological.
High speed X-ray computed tomography for plant-site analysis of pebble phosphate

Abstract The increase in demand for phosphate by agriculture and allied industries has led to an increase in production by mining and processing operations. According to an estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey, phosphate production will increase from 223 million tons in 2015 to an expected 255 million tons in 2019 ( Ober, 2018 ). With the reduced availability of high quality resources, the phosphate industry faces a challenge to meet the ever-increasing demand. For effective utilization of existing pebble phosphate reserves, detailed particle characterization at the plant site should be useful. In this regard, high speed X-ray computed tomography (HSXCT) is being considered to achieve improved processing efficiency to meet the growing industrial demands. The current paper focuses on the demonstration and development of the HSXCT technique for plant-site characterization of the pebble phosphate resources from Florida operations. The study involves high and low MgO pebble phosphate samples obtained from Mosaic’s South Pasture and Four Corners operations. The appropriate sample preparation, operating conditions and procedures for HSXCT analysis with the VoluMax 800 system were established. Based on scanning of different sample amounts, satisfactory analysis of pebble phosphate samples has been demonstrated to be possible at a maximum scanning rate of 1 kg/min. The HSXCT data provides mineralogical and liberation analyses for quartz, dolomite and francolite with good reproducibility and good correspondence to the chemical analyses. For example, the mineral composition of each particle in a one kg sample (∼40,000 particles) can be determined in five minutes, while liberation analysis may take 15 min. Further, the statistical significance of volume grade distribution results from HSXCT analyses was assessed based on scans of replicate samples.
[Regular Paper] MVPNets: Multi-viewing Path Deep Learning Neural Networks for Magnification Invariant Diagnosis in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer diagnosis requires a pathologist to analyze the histology slides under various magnifications. An automated diagnosis method to aid pathologists that is magnification independent will significantly save time, reduce cost and mitigate subjectivity and errors in current histopathological diagnosis procedures. This paper presents a deep learning network, called MVPNet and a customized data augmentation technique, called NuView, for magnification independent diagnosis. MVPNet is tailored to tackle the most common issues (diversity, relatively small size of datasets and manifestation of diagnostic biomarkers at various magnification levels) with breast cancer histology data to perform the classification. The network simultaneously analyzes local and global features of a given tissue image. It does so by viewing the tissue at varying levels of relative nuclei sizes. MVPNet has significantly less parameters than standard transfer learning deep models with comparable performance and it combines and processes local and global features simulatenously for effective diagnosis. Additionally, NuView extracts tumor nuclei location and points the attention of MVPNet to the informative region specifically. The method gives an average magnification independent classification accuracy of 92.2% as compared to 83% reported in literature on the BreaKHis database.
Psychological Reactance From Reading Basic Facts on Climate Change: The Role of Prior Views and Political Identification

Scholars continue to search for solutions to shift climate change skeptics’ views on climate science and policy. However, research has shown that certain audiences are resistant to change regarding...
Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections

The review discusses necrotizing soft tissue infections, including clinical manifestations, diagnosis and management. There has been an effort towards developing scoring systems to aid in the diagnosis of necrotizing soft tissue infections and this article reviews those in addition to their applicability. These scoring systems should primarily be used to aid in diagnosis and are not effective at ruling out necrotizing infections. Recent reviews regarding optimal antibiotics and IVIG are also discussed. Necrotizing soft tissue infections are challenging to diagnosis as they often mimic more benign conditions. A high clinical suspicion should be maintained to diagnose this disease process. Broad-spectrum antibiotics and surgical debridement are required for management. The mortality from these infections is high and patients will often be critically ill. Prompt diagnosis, resuscitation, and definitive therapy are keys to improvements in patient morbidity and mortality.
Experimental Validation of Hydrogen Atom Transfer Gibbs Free Energy as a Predictor of Nitroaromatic Reduction Rate Constants

Nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) are a class of prevalent contaminants. Abiotic reduction is an important fate process that initiates NAC degradation in the environment. Many linear free energy relationship (LFER) models have been developed to predict NAC reduction rates. Almost all LFERs to date utilize experimental aqueous-phase one-electron reduction potential ( EH1) of NAC as a predictor, and thus, their utility is limited by the availability of EH1 data. A promising new approach that utilizes computed hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) Gibbs free energy instead of EH1 as a predictor was recently proposed. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of HAT energy for predicting NAC reduction rate constants. Using dithionite-reduced quinones, we measured the second-order rate constants for the reduction of seven NACs by three hydroquinones of different protonation states. We computed the gas-phase energies for HAT and electron affinity (EA) of NACs and established HAT- and EA-based LFERs for six hydroquinone species. The results suggest that HAT energy is a reliable predictor of NAC reduction rate constants and is superior to EA. This is the first independent, experimental validation of HAT-based LFER, a new approach that enables rate prediction for a broad range of structurally diverse NACs based solely on molecular structures.
Abstract 676: Leveraging TCGA gene expression data to build predictive models for cancer drug response

Personalized oncology promises to increase the success rate of cancer drug therapy by using molecular tumor profiles to determine the optimal therapeutic for an individual. 5-Fluorouracil and Gemcitabine are two Food and Drug Administration approved chemotherapeutics commonly prescribed to cancer patients. Here, we build machine learning models using gene expression data from patients’ primary tumors to predict their response, positive or negative, to these drugs. We compared several clustering and classification methods for predicting response. Of those tested, Clara was found to be the best clustering algorithm while random forest was the best classification method, with prediction accuracy up to 86%. We determined that models trained across several cancers outperform single cancer models. We also found that genes most informative for predicting drug response were enriched in well-known cancer signaling pathways, highlighting their potential significance in chemotherapy prognosis. Ultimately, such predictive models may aid oncologists with making critical treatment decisions. Citation Format: Evan Clayton. Leveraging TCGA gene expression data to build predictive models for cancer drug response [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 676.
Nutrient Cost-Effectiveness of Fortified Blended Food Aid Products.

Background:Sorghum-Soy Blend (SSB) and Sorghum-Cowpea Blend (SCB) fortified blended food aid porridge products were developed as alternatives to Corn-Soy Blend Plus (CSB+) and Super Cereal Plus (SC...
Predictors of Risky Sexual Behavior among High School Students in the United States

Risky sexual behavior among teenagers in the United States is a noted public health concern. The purpose of this study is to examine the correlates and theoretical predictors of risky sexual behavi...
Association Between Diagnoses of Chronic Noncancer Pain, Substance Use Disorder, and HIV-Related Outcomes in People Living With HIV.

Background Chronic pain is common in people living with HIV (PLWH). Few studies have evaluated the association between the diagnoses of chronic pain, substance use disorder (SUD), and HIV-related outcomes in clinical settings over a 10-year period. Methods Using electronic medical records, the study described psychiatric diagnoses, pain medication, and HIV-related variables in PLWH and examined the factors associated with pain diagnosis and HIV-related outcomes. Results Among 3528 PLWH, more than one-third exhibited a chronic pain diagnosis and more than one-third a psychiatric disorder. Chronic pain diagnosis has been associated with SUD and mood and anxiety disorders and occurred before SUD or psychiatric disorders about half of the time. Opioids have been commonly prescribed for pain management, more often than nonopioid analgesic, without any change in prescription pattern over the 10-year period. A dual diagnosis of pain and SUD has been associated with more psychiatric disorders and had a negative impact on the pain management by requesting more health care utilization and higher frequency of both opioid and nonopioid medication prescriptions. Chronic pain and SUD had a negative impact on ART adherence. SUD but not chronic pain has been associated with an unsuppressed HIV viral load. Conclusions In the current intertwining opioid prescription and opioid epidemic, opioids are still commonly prescribed in PLWH in HIV care. A diagnosis of chronic pain and/or SUD worsened the HIV-related outcomes, emphasizing the potential risk of the HIV epidemic. These findings called for a better coordinated care program in HIV clinics.
Ethnobotany of Clitoria (Leguminosae)

Reported economic uses of Clitoria (Leguminosae) are summarized based upon literature reports and label data obtained from examination of over 8000 herbarium vouchers. Reports are categorized by economic use. Most reports are for an African species,C. tematea, presently distributed throughout the tropics. Economic data for 23 species are reported, many for the first time.