cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of cortical granules and the cortical reaction in rat and hamster eggs.

The origin of cortical granules is described in hamster and rat oocytes by electron microscopy. They occur first near vesicular elements of small Golgi complexes. Most of these Golgi complexes lie peripherally, but in the rat, there are a few also near the germinal vesicle. The granules arise at the concave surfaces of the Golgi complexes and apparently migrate to the cell membrane where they become aligned in close association to it. Cortical granules are found in the cytoplasm of the first polar body but not in the second. The cortical reaction, initiated by sperm attachment, consists of a gradual fusion of the membranes surrounding cortical granules with that of the egg plasma membrane and eversion of their contents into the perivitelline space. Occasionally, in the rat several granules fuse laterally to form larger cortical “caverns.” Such caverns have a single opening to the perivitelline space. The origin and extrusion of cortical granules can be compared usefully with the synthesis and merocrine-type secretion of proteinaceous granules or mucoid droplets.
Tandem affinity purification revealed the hypusine‐dependent binding of eukaryotic initiation factor 5A to the translating 80S ribosomal complex

Eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) is the only protein in nature that contains hypusine, an unusual amino acid formed post-translationally in two steps by deoxyhypusine synthase and deoxyhypusine hydroxylase. Genes encodingeIF5Aordeoxyhypusinesynthaseareessentialforcellsurvivalandproliferation.Todeterminethephysiological function of eIF5A, we have employed the tandem affinity purification (TAP) method and mass spectrometry to search for and identify the potential eIF5A-interacting proteins. The TAP-tag was fused in-frame to chromosomal TIF51A gene and eIF5A-TAP fusion protein expressed at its natural level was used as the bait to fish out its interacting partners. At salt concentrations of 150 mM, deoxyhypusine synthase was the only protein bound to eIF5A. As salt concentrations were lowered to 125 mM or less, eIF5A interacted with a set of proteins, which were identified as the components of the 80S ribosome complex. The eIF5A-ribosome interaction was sensitive to RNase and EDTA treatments, indicating the requirementofRNAandthejoiningof40Sand60Sribosomalsubunitsfortheinteraction.Importantly,asinglemutationof hypusine to arginine completely abolished the eIF5A-ribosome interaction. Sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis of log versus stationary phase cells and eIF3 mutant strain showed that the endogenous eIF5A co-sedimented with the actively translating 80S ribosomes and polyribosomes in an RNase- and EDTA-sensitive manner. Our study demonstrates for the first time that eIF5A interacts in a hypusine-dependent manner with a molecular complex rather than a single protein, suggesting that the essential function of eIF5A is mostly likely mediated through its interaction with the actively translating ribosomes. J. Cell. Biochem. 97: 583-598, 2006. 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Mechanisms and dispersion of crystalline optical activity

A lattice-dynamical calculation applicable to crystals of any structural complexity and any symmetry (that permits optical activity) reveals three mechanisms causing optical activity in crystals: electric-dipole–magnetic-dipole interference, electric-dipole–electric-quadrupole interference, and first-order wave-vector dispersion of the bonding forces. Only the last mechanism was found by Born and Huang from lattice dynamics, while quantum-mechanical derivations have produced only the other two. Thus the present derivation removes a discrepancy between these two approaches, which, since they deal with a long-wavelength phenomenon, should produce closely comparable formulas. The first two mechanisms give terms in the rotatory power proportional to ω2/(ωi2 − ω2), whereas the third mechanism gives terms proportional to ω2/(ωi2 − ω2) (ωj2 − ω2). Both types of term have been shown to be necessary to fit frequency dispersion in particular crystals. Thus the present theory produces all the known mechanisms along with the needed dispersion from a general, unified, basic approach.
Effects of Flour Particle Size on the Textural Properties of Flour Tortillas

Abstract Three wheat flours, hard red winter (HRW), hard white winter (HWW) and soft red winter (SRW), were fractionated by sieving into four different particle size fractions, 75 μm. The medium fractions, 38–53 and 53–75 μm, of the HRW and HWW wheat had higher protein contents than the finest and coarsest fractions. The finest fractions had the highest levels of damaged starch. Tortillas made from the medium fractions of HRW and HWW, especially the 53–75 μm fraction, had longer rupture distance and better foldability. The finest fraction yielded tortillas with shorter rupture distance and worse foldability. Fractionation by flour particle size slightly affected protein composition of the flour. Size exclusion-high performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC) analyses showed that the compositions of SRW wheat proteins were significantly different from those of HRW and HWW wheat proteins. SRW had more low molecular weight (LMW) and less high molecular weight (HMW) protein than HRW and HWW had. The
Hierarchical error representation: A computational model of anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ACC and dlPFC, respectively are core components of the cognitive control network. Activation of these regions is routinely observed in tasks that involve monitoring the external environment and maintaining information in order to generate appropriate responses. Despite the ubiquity of studies reporting coactivation of these two regions, a consensus on how they interact to support cognitive control has yet to emerge. In this letter, we present a new hypothesis and computational model of ACC and dlPFC. The error representation hypothesis states that multidimensional error signals generated by ACC in response to surprising outcomes are used to train representations of expected error in dlPFC, which are then associated with relevant task stimuli. Error representations maintained in dlPFC are in turn used to modulate predictive activity in ACC in order to generate better estimates of the likely outcomes of actions. We formalize the error representation hypothesis in a new computational model based on our previous model of ACC. The hierarchical error representation HER model of ACC/dlPFC suggests a mechanism by which hierarchically organized layers within ACC and dlPFC interact in order to solve sophisticated cognitive tasks. In a series of simulations, we demonstrate the ability of the HER model to autonomously learn to perform structured tasks in a manner comparable to human performance, and we show that the HER model outperforms current deep learning networks by an order of magnitude.
Growth Factor Network Disruption in Prostate Cancer Progression

Prostate cancer progression is often accompanied by alterations of expression in one or more growth factor receptors and/or their ligands. This commentary examines the hypothesis that the disruption of the normal growth factor network itself is a critical event in prostate cancer progression. If such transition points are proven, there are significant ramifications.
Health Care Reform Before the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) was grafted onto a complex structure employment-based health benefit plans supplemented by a number of federal and state health care programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This article examines the development of health care benefits in the United States before 2010. A following article will appraise the ACA.
Countless Ramayanas: Language and Cosmopolitan Belonging in a South Asian Epic

The Kiski Kahani project in Pune, India, is a not-for-profit program that compiles stories of the Ramayana, a South Asian epic, and publishes them in English. Kiski Kahani’s ideology rejects the Hindu nationalist master narrative of the Ramayana, and privileges the fragmentary, improvised stories of the epics. As a socially grounded language practice, Kiski Kahani’s retellings are grounded in pan-Indian, cosmopolitan modalities that index a sense of belonging to a pluri-cultural nation: the use of English rather than Hindi or Marathi, and a curation of stories from diverse Indian regions and languages that develops an emerging genre.
Using a 3D World to Address Perceptual Issues in Human-robot Coordination

Abstract There is a growing body of evidence that human perception is “active”, in the sense that it is largely goal-oriented and top-down. Task goals appear to influence how people perceive their environment. Effective interaction between people and unmanned systems requires that the unmanned systems’ perceptions be comprehensible to people, and this means that the unmanned systems should also perceive the world in an active manner. Recent evidence in cognitive psychology and neuroscience supports the proposition that simulation, the “re-enactment of perceptual, motor and introspective states” is a central cognitive mechanism. Cognitive functions such as anticipation and planning operate through a process of internal simulation of actions and environment. Indeed there is a history in the field of Artificial Intelligence of using “simulated action” as an algorithmic search procedure, e.g., game trees, though such an approach typically has problematic computational complexity. The simulations include not just the effect of actions, but also the understood laws of physics (e.g., will a falling object continue to fall). We are building a robot cognitive architecture that is based on a unified cognitive architecture - Soar - and that uses active perception and simulation in planning. Our system constructs a 3D virtual copy of itself and its environment, including people, and updates this model in realtime to agree with changes in its environment. This 3D model is a qualitative description of the world, and includes physics simulation capabilities so that effects of actions can be simulated before being executed in the real world. This allows the unmanned system to predict and plan its interactions with people. This paper describes the structure of this architecture, and provides examples and videos showing its performance in dynamic environments.
A Possible Ritual Cache of Great Basin Stemmed Bifaces from the Terminal Pleistocene—Early Holocene Occupation of Nw Nevada, USA

AbstractRecently, an assemblage of 19 obsidian tools has come to light following the death of their original collector. This collection apparently resultedfrom his excavations in an unknown cave in 1974 and may have been found buried together as a cache and ritual offering. These unusually large tools correspond to the Parman variety of the Great Basin Stemmed cluster, which is associated with the terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene occupation of the Great Basin region of North America. The assemblage contains six Parman projectile points, four stemmed bifacial preforms, five bipointed preforms, two ovoid bifacial blanks, one small triangular biface, and a thick scraper. Trace element studies of these materials suggest origins from five different obsidian sources near the High Rock country of NW Nevada. Comparison of this collection with Paleoindian biface caches from outside the Great Basin suggests some interesting parallels that may imply shared cultural behaviors between these groups.
A META-ANALYSIS OF CONTROLLED STUDIES COMPARING MITRACLIP VERSUS SURGERY FOR SEVERE MITRAL REGURGITATION: IS THERE A MORTALITY BENEFIT?

The MitraClip is a transcatheter device for percutaneous edge-to-edge mitral valve (MV) repair. Registries have shown safety and efficacy of MitraClip in the reduction of mitral regurgitation (MR) severity. Studies comparing MitraClip to MV surgery have shown conflicting results. We aimed to
β-Glucan exacerbates allergic asthma independent of fungal sensitization and promotes steroid-resistant TH2/TH17 responses

Background Allergic sensitization to fungi has been associated with asthma severity. As a result, it has been largely assumed that the contribution of fungi to allergic disease is mediated through their potent antigenicity. Objective We sought to determine the mechanism by which fungi affect asthma development and severity. Methods We integrated epidemiologic and experimental asthma models to explore the effect of fungal exposure on asthma development and severity. Results We report that fungal exposure enhances allergen-driven T H 2 responses, promoting severe allergic asthma. This effect is independent of fungal sensitization and can be reconstituted with β-glucan and abrogated by neutralization of IL-17A. Furthermore, this severe asthma is resistant to steroids and characterized by mixed T H 2 and T H 17 responses, including IL-13 + IL-17 + CD4 + double-producing effector T cells. Steroid resistance is dependent on fungus-induced T H 17 responses because steroid sensitivity was restored in IL-17rc −/− mice. Similarly, in children with asthma, fungal exposure was associated with increased serum IL-17A levels and asthma severity. Conclusion Our data demonstrate that fungi are potent immunomodulators and have powerful effects on asthma independent of their potential to act as antigens. Furthermore, our results provide a strong rationale for combination treatment strategies targeting IL-17A for this subgroup of fungus-exposed patients with difficult-to-treat asthma.
Deutsche Bank: Finding Relative Value Trades

SUBJECT AREAS: Bonds, Capital markets, Financial instruments, Institutional investments CASE SETTINGS: London; 2003 Deutsche Bank's Fixed Income Research Group is looking for yield curve trades to pitch to clients as well as for their proprietary trading desk. The group has data on recent bond trades and a proprietary term structure model, which they can use to develop trading ideas.
Understanding password choices: how frequently entered passwords are re-used across websites

From email to online banking, passwords are an essential component of modern internet use. Yet, users do not always have good password security practices, leaving their accounts vulnerable to attack. We conducted a study which combines self-report survey responses with measures of actual online behavior gathered from 134 participants over the course of six weeks. We find that people do tend to re-use each password on 1.7-3.4 different websites, they reuse passwords that are more complex, and mostly they tend to re-use passwords that they have to enter frequently. We also investigated whether self-report measures are accurate indicators of actual behavior, finding that though people understand password security, their self-reported intentions have only a weak correlation with reality. These findings suggest that users manage the challenge of having many passwords by choosing a complex password on a website where they have to enter it frequently in order to memorize that password, and then re-using that strong password across other websites.
Hemolytic-uremic syndrome with prolonged anuria.

AbstractTotal cessation of urine formation beyond 4 days with ultimate survival is a rare occurrence. A child with the hemolytic-uremic syndrome was anuric for 27 days and renal function improved. The metabolic effects of acute renal failure require careful control of water and electrolyte balance and, when indicated, peritoneal and/or hemodialysis until renal function returns.
Strength of evidence for labeled dosing recommendations in renal impairment.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Renally excreted medications often require dose adjustment in patients with kidney impairment. While drug development and approval in the United States are typically based on several Phase I and II studies and one or more larger Phase III randomized trials, the basis for labeled dosing recommendations for patients with renal impairment is less well known. In response, we aimed to quantify the level of evidence used to recommend labeled dosing adjustments for newly approved drugs in patients with renal impairment. METHODS We reviewed publicly available drug labels and approval packages for new molecular entities approved in the United States between 2012 and 2014. The sample was restricted to 29 renally excreted new molecular entities that were not granted orphan drug status. We extracted data regarding approved indications, normal dosing, dosing adjustments for patients with mild (estimated glomerular filtration rate >60 mL/min/1.73 m2), moderate (estimated glomerular filtration rate 30-<60 mL/min/1.73 m2), and severe (estimated glomerular filtration rate <30 mL/min/1.73 m2) renal impairment, characteristics of studies used to justify dosing adjustments, and numbers of subjects in each study. RESULTS In all, 14 of 29 (48%) new molecular entities had labels that recommended dosing adjustments for patients with mild, moderate, and/or severe renal impairment. Among these 14 new molecular entities, 4 (29%) used only pharmacokinetic studies to justify the recommendations, with no examination of clinical outcomes for patients with renal impairment. Where data were available, the median number of patients with renal impairment evaluated in studies used for dosing adjustment was 34 (range, 4-5976). Of the 15 new molecular entities with no recommended dosing adjustments for this population, 2 (13%) did not report assessing the effects of renal impairment. CONCLUSION Nearly half of newly approved renally excreted drugs include dosing adjustments for kidney impairment on the label, but the recommendations are usually based on very small numbers of patients and often utilize pharmacokinetic studies alone. More research is needed to understand the benefits and risks of new drugs in patients with renal impairment.
Convergence Platforms: Foundational Science and Technology Tools

Tremendous progress has occurred in the past 10–20 years in tools that both enable and spring from nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, cognitive science, and interrelated fields. This chapter describes how convergence of these and other emerging technologies is accelerating the advances in scientific knowledge and tool capabilities with relevance to human scale, Earth scale and societal scale activities. Developments are envisioned at the frontiers and interfaces of the foundational converging technologies. Examples of convergence in innovations are seen in cell phones and tablet computers, brain research, novel gene sequencing techniques, means to store and transmit huge amounts of data, novel tools to measure and manipulate objects at the nanoscale, new green and distributed manufacturing models, engineered new materials, expanding interaction between humans and machines, and increasing capabilities for communication and education across distances. With these and other new capabilities is coming the globalization of scientific and engineering R&D at the intersections of traditional disciplines, and an increasingly shared vision of addressing society-wide problems and needs by adapting and applying new tools in transdisciplinary outcomes-focused R&D projects.
The new woman in early twentieth-century Chinese fiction

In The New Woman in Early Twentieth-century Chinese Fiction, Jin Feng discusses representations of women in May Fourth fiction, issues of gender, modernity, individualism, subjectivity, and narrative strategy. In this thought-provoking book about a crucial period of Chinese literature, Feng argues that male writers such as Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Ba Jin, and Mao Dun created fictional women as mirror images of their own political inadequacy, but that at the same time this was also an egocentric ploy to affirm and highlight the modernity of the male author. This gender-biased attitude was translated into reality when women writers emerged. Whereas unfair, gender-biased criticism all but stifled the creative output of Bing Xin, Fang Yuanjun, and Lu Yin, Ding Ling's dogged attention to narrative strategy allowed her to maintain subjectivity and independence in her writings; that is until all writers were forced to write for the collective.
Correlation between early-life regulation of the immune system by microbiota and allergy development.

Early postnatal life is a key time for development of the immune system and colonization of the host by microbiota. Recent studies have shown that specific limbs of the immune system can be regulated by microbiota in a time-restricted period during early life. Studies in mouse models have shown that perturbations of the microbiota during early life can cause immune effects that can persist into adulthood and create increased host susceptibility to certain diseases. Here we discuss the role of early-life regulation of the immune system by the microbiota and how it can be related to allergy development.
Hip-Hop’s Authentic Masculinity: A Quare Reading of Fox’s Empire:

Black masculinity in the hip-hop culture often promotes instances of homophobia, effeminophobia, and misogyny. To reify an “authentic” black masculinity, individuals within the hip-hop genre police...
Literature as Ghost Whisperer in 2666: Narrating the Impossible

As a literary parallel to the largely unsolved violence against maquiladoras workers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the city of Santa Teresa in Roberto Bolano’s novel 2666 reveals waves of ghostly, and largely feminine, voices. When these spectral presences attempt to communicate with visiting international intellectuals, however, their desperate pleas illicit scant scholarly attention. This chapter argues that the possibility of resolving Santa Teresa’s “femicide” depends upon reading the ghostly signs of these crimes rather than privileging a wholly impractical hunt for the existentially empty figure of an obscure German novelist.
Effects of Prone Positioning on Transpulmonary Pressures and End-expiratory Volumes in Patients without Lung Disease.

Background:The effects of prone positioning on esophageal pressures have not been investigated in mechanically ventilated patients. Our objective was to characterize effects of prone positioning on esophageal pressures, transpulmonary pressure, and lung volume, thereby assessing the potential utilit
Gynecological Care for Adolescents

Physicians treating adolescents need to give them the information to make intelligent and responsible decisions regarding sexual activity and reassure them of patient confidentiality. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Enzymatic Properties of Phytohemagglutinins

Carbohydrate binding proteins that interact with animal cells and agglutinate them (hemagglutinins, lectins) have been under study for almost 100 years.1 Best characterized are those hemagglutinins which have been isolated from plant species, particularly those isolated from species of the Leguminosae. Although hundreds of legume species contain hemagglutinins2 and many have been purified and characterized,3 the physiological function(s) of these proteins is unknown. Since the relationships among hemagglutinins from different legume species have only recently come under careful scrutiny, functional classification of these proteins is not possible at this time.
Risk assessment problems in chemical oncogenesis.

The assessment of the risk to humans represented by positive results obtained in animal oncogenicity bioassays and the associated problems have been reviewed and debated previously [1–8]. Much of the debate has centered on the use of the maximum tolerated dose, application of metabolic and pharmacokinetic parameters, linear versus nonlinear tumor dose response curves and related mathematical modelling, species/strain differences, statistical considerations, the relevance of mutagenic screens and animal to human extrapolations. This review will briefly outline the present status of oncogenicity risk assessment including, where appropriate, brief consideration of some of these problems. The major portion of this discussion, however, will attempt to highlight problems with risk assessment that have not been so thoroughly discussed before. These problems are: the ambiguity of several key terms used in chemical oncogenesis and risk assessment, the dominance of the animal bioassay results over the other data bases available, the lack of validation of the bioassay protocol, oncogenic responses due to the exaggerated pharmacodynamic effects of drugs and risk assessment of antitumor drugs. Recommendations concerning these problems are also offered.
Modeling solute reactivity in a phreatic solution conduit penetrating a karst aquifer.

Abstract A two-dimensional model for solute migration, transformation, and deposition in a phreatic solution conduit penetrating a karst aquifer is presented in which the solute is anthropogenic to the natural system. Transformation of a reacting solute in a solution conduit has generally been accepted as likely occurring but actual physical measurements and mathematical analyses of the suspected process have been generally minimally investigated, primarily because of the logistical difficulties and complexities associated with solute transport through solution conduits. The model demonstrates how a reacting solute might decay or be transformed to a product solute some of which then migrates via radial dispersion to the conduit wall where it may become adsorbed. Model effects vary for laminar flow and turbulent flow in the axial direction. Dispersion in the radial direction also exhibits marked differences for both laminar flow and turbulent flow. Reaction zones may enhance subsequent reactions due to some overlap resulting from the longitudinal dispersion caused by flow in the axial direction. Simulations showed that varying the reaction rate coefficient strongly affects solute reactions, but that varying deposition coefficients had only minimal impacts. The model was applied to a well-known tracer test that used the tracer dye, Rhodamine WT, which readily converts to deaminoalkylated Rhodamine WT after release, to illustrate how the model may be used to suggest one possible cause, in addition to other possible causes, for less than 100 tracer-mass recovery. In terms of pollutants in a karst aquifer the model also suggests one possible mechanism for pollutant transformation in a solution conduit.
Differentially Private Hypothesis Transfer Learning

In recent years, the focus of machine learning has been shifting to the paradigm of transfer learning where the data distribution in the target domain differs from that in the source domain. This is a prevalent setting in real-world classification problems and numerous well-established theoretical results in the classical supervised learning paradigm will break down under this setting. In addition, the increasing privacy protection awareness restricts access to source domain samples and poses new challenges for the development of privacy-preserving transfer learning algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel differentially private multiple-source hypothesis transfer learning method for logistic regression. The target learner operates on differentially private hypotheses and importance weighting information from the sources to construct informative Gaussian priors for its logistic regression model. By leveraging a publicly available auxiliary data set, the importance weighting information can be used to determine the relationship between the source domain and the target domain without leaking source data privacy. Our approach provides a robust performance boost even when high quality labeled samples are extremely scarce in the target data set. The extensive experiments on two real-world data sets confirm the performance improvement of our approach over several baselines. Data related to this paper is available at: http://qwone.com/~jason/20Newsgroups/ and https://www.cs.jhu.edu/~mdredze/datasets/sentiment/index2.html.
Regularity Theory for L N -Viscosity Solutions to Fully Nonlinear Elliptic Equations With Asymptotical Approximate Convexity

Abstract We develop interior W 2 , p , μ and W 2 , BMO regularity theories for L n -viscosity solutions to fully nonlinear elliptic equations T ( D 2 u , x ) = f ( x ) , where T is approximately convex at infinity. Particularly, W 2 , BMO regularity theory holds if operator T is locally semiconvex near infinity and all eigenvalues of D 2 T ( M ) are at least − C ‖ M ‖ − ( 1 + σ 0 ) as M → ∞ . W 2 , BMO regularity for some Isaacs equations is given. We also show that the set of fully nonlinear operators of W 2 , BMO regularity theory is dense in the space of fully nonlinear uniformly elliptic operators.
Prenatal findings in a fetus with X-linked recessive type of chondrodysplasia punctata (CDPX1): a case report with novel mutation

X-linked recessive chondrodysplasia punctate (CDPX1) is a rare congenital disorder of bone and cartilage development, caused by a mutation in the arylsulfatase E (ARSE) gene located on chromosome Xp22.3. Although most of the affected men had mild symptoms, some had more severe symptoms, and had a poor prognosis. We present the case of a male fetus diagnosed with CDPX1. Ultrasound clearly showed that hypoplasia of the midface, flatness of face, low flatness of the nose, collapse of the tip of the nose, accompanied by severe spinal stenosis and secondary ossification center of the femoral metaphysis appeared in advance. Chromosome analysis of the amniotic fluid cells revealed 46, XY. Whole exome sequencing showed that there was a novel missense mutation of c.640G > A in ARSE gene on X chromosome. Three protein function prediction software FATHMM、Polyphen-2、PROVEAN have shown that the novel missense mutation of c.640G > A in this study was pathogenic. Our case is a novel mutation and presents a typical characterization of the disease, which can expand the spectrum of mutations of the ARSE gene and is helpful for prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of this disease.
Is the Universe Infinite

Not knowing where we are makes us all a little crazy. Not knowing the borders of our plane of existence makes some of us even crazier. It is foolish to label the borders of our universe, yet it is wise to ponder on that question.
Preventative and management strategies of hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy among surgeons: An international survey study

Abstract Objective To determine international surgeon practice patterns for transient postoperative hypocalcemia in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy. Methods All member surgeons of the American Thyroid Association and the International Association of Thyroid Surgeons were contacted via email to complete a 20-question survey which included both questions about demographic information and preventing and managing postoperative hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. Univariate analysis was performed to determine whether providers check preoperative vitamin D levels, postoperative calcium trends and/or PTH to assess for postoperative hypocalcemia. Results A total of 332 surgeons responded to the survey with 72.26% in practice for >10 years and 82.18% performing >50 total thyroidectomies per year. 13.29% of surgeon's surveyed reported that they routinely check preoperative vitamin D levels. Surgeon case volume, type of practice (academic vs non-academic practice), and geographic location in the US were significant predictors of whether surgeons check preoperative Vitamin D levels. International surgeons were significantly more likely to check both postoperative serum Ca and PTH compared to US based surgeons (p Conclusions Using a questionnaire distributed to both General Surgeons and Otolaryngologists, we demonstrated that there is significant variation in practice patterns between surgeons practicing in the United States and surgeons practicing in other countries, and practice often differs from recommended guidelines.
Employment impacts of the US global value chain participation

This study applies a new set of comprehensive GVC indices to measure the US GVC participation and examine its impact on US employment from both backward and forward GVC linkage perspectives. Based ...
Method to Convert an 8-Item PCL-5 Score to a Total PCL-5 Score: a Scaled Equation Analysis

The repeated assessment of PTSD symptom severity is a critical component of research and evidence-based interventions. PTSD is composed of 20 symptoms across four clusters. However, 20-item measures can be burdensome to administer frequently, especially in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) where multiple assessments are conducted per day. An abbreviated 8-item version of the PCL-5 was developed to obtain information about PTSD symptoms at reduced effort to the participant. However, the symptom severity scale by which symptoms can range between the abbreviated (0–32) and full (0–80) scales differ, which limits the interpretability of the abbreviated scale. The current study evaluated three different methods (a proportional, linear regression, and genetic programming model) to convert scores from the abbreviated measure to that of the full PCL. These equations were then compared across two testing samples to assess their accuracy and bias. The genetic programming and linear regression equation were superior to a proportional equation in both measures of accuracy and bias, with the genetic programming equation demonstrating less bias overall than the linear regression. Furthermore, the diagnostic utility of each method was found to be similar. These results provide a method to convert abbreviated PCL scores to that of the full scale, which increases the utility of this abbreviated scale.
System wide channel network analysis reveals hotspots of morphological change in anthropogenically modified regions of the Ganges Delta

The Ganges Brahmaputra Meghna Delta (GBMD) is a large and complex coastal system whose channel network is vulnerable to morphological changes caused by sea level rise, subsidence, anthropogenic modifications, and changes to water and sediment loads. Locating and characterizing change is particularly challenging because of the wide range of forcings acting on the GBMD and because of the large range of scales over which these forcings act. In this study, we examine the spatial variability of change in the GBMD channel network. We quantify the relative magnitudes and directions of change across multiple scales and relate the spatial distribution of change to the spatial distribution of a variety of known system forcings. We quantify how the channelization varies by computing the Channelized Response Variance (CRV) on 30 years of remotely sensed imagery of the entire delta extent. The CRV analysis reveals hotspots of morphological change across the delta. We find that the magnitude of these hotspots are related to the spatial distribution of the dominant physiographic forcings in the system (tidal and fluvial influence levels, channel connectivity, and anthropogenic interference levels). We find that the anthropogenically modified embanked regions have much higher levels of geomorphic change than the adjacent natural Sundarban forest and that this change is primarily due to channel infilling and increased rates of channel migration. Having a better understanding of how anthropogenic changes affect delta channel networks over human timescales will help to inform policy decisions affecting the human and ecological presences on deltas around the world.
Automated Reflective Optical System Alignment with Focal Plane Sensing and Optimal State Estimation

We apply an automated alignment technique developed for refractive systems on a multielement reflective system, analyze its convergence behavior and suggest potential improvements.
Beyond “Donors and Recipients”: Impacts of Species Gains and Losses Reverberate Among Ecosystems Due to Changes in Resource Subsidies

Pervasive environmental degradation has altered biodiversity at a global scale. At smaller scales, species extirpations, invasions, and replacements have greatly influenced how ecosystems function and interact by affecting the exchanges of energy, materials, and organisms. In this chapter, we examine how a variety of environmental stressors, and associated species losses and gains, change the exchange of resources (materials or organisms) within and among ecosystems. We specifically consider how changes that occur within an ecosystem may trigger effects that reverberate (e.g., directly, indirectly, and via feedbacks) back and forth across ecological boundaries and propagate to other ecosystems connected via exchanges of materials and organisms. Our synthesis provides cursory overviews of ecosystem “openness” as it has been addressed by community ecologists and the conceptual development of ecological frameworks used to examine resource exchanges between ecosystems. We then describe four case studies and examine how species losses and gains affect food web structure via resource exchanges between ecosystems, with particular emphasis on effects spanning land-water boundaries. Finally, we discuss the need for more complex conceptual treatment of the interconnectedness of food webs among ecosystems.
Tug of War Between Supplier and Retailer: Capacity Decisions Under Demand Chasing

Retailers of fashion products constantly face the risk of missing demand in the selling season. To reduce the risk, the retailer can choose to place small initial orders to identify popular products and subsequently press the supplier to deliver expedited reorders -- the so-called emph {demand chasing tactic}. However, the supplier prefers receiving firm order commitment as far in advance as possible to better adjust its capacity level. This conflict of interests regarding capacity level can build tension between the supplier and the retailer, which is more so for the entities experiencing channel power imbalance in a decentralized supply chain. In view of this tension observed in practice, we model the demand chasing tactic to reveal its effects on the profitability of the individual entities and of the supply chain as a whole. As we consider the channel power imbalance in the supply chain, we use standard Stackelberg games to analyze the strategic decisions of the entities. We show that the demand chasing tactic tends to cause capacity overage or underage as compared to the optimal capacity level in the centralized supply chain. Moreover, unless the product profit margin is exceptionally high, obsessively pressing the demand chasing tactic would harm rather than improve the expected profit of the entities, including the retailer itself.
Teaching students to read journal articles critically

In this article, the author describes the use of primary literature readings in an upper-division undergraduate field course. One of the two main learning goals of the course was to teach students ...
Sex-Role Stereotypes and Causal Attributions for Success and Failure in Motor Performance

Abstract This experiment investigated the relationship between sex-role stereotypes and causal attributions. Eighty fourth-grade boys and girls competed at a motor skill task against either boys or girls—either winning or losing. Subsequently, subjects assigned causality of their success or failure to various attributional factors. The data confirmed the following hypothesis derived from the literature on the sex-role stereotypes: Boys are less likely to claim the lack of their own abilities and the presence of the opponents' (girls') abilities as causes of their failures when they lose to girls than when they lose to boys. Girls showed a tendency (nonsignificant) to accept the lack of their abilities and the presence of the opponents' (boys') abilities as causes of their failures to a greater extent after losing to boys than after losing to girls. The results further revealed that mere performance against competitors of the same sex increased boys' stereotypes about their superiority over girls.
“Negative Symptoms,” Common Sense, and Cultural Disembedding in the Modern Age

In this essay I offer a novel interpretation of the so-called “negative symptoms” of schizophrenia (symptoms characterized by diminishment of overt behavior or expression, including flat affective expression, restricted speech, and apparent apathy), and I consider these symptoms in relation to key aspects of modern culture and consciousness. Contrary to standard assumptions, many “negative-symptom” experiences in schizophrenia actually involve forms of subjectivity characterized by hyperreflexivity and alienation – namely, by exacerbation of various kinds of self-consciousness, often involving disengagement from the grounding frameworks, assumptions, and bodily dispositions that would normally serve as the taken-for-granted background of practical action and experience. Many of these features show a remarkable resemblance to key aspects of modern culture and society – which itself is marked by a “wholesale reflexivity” (Anthony Giddens) and associated detachment from shared, common-sense reality. After discussing these affinities between modernity and madness, I consider various ways in which modern society might actually contribute to, or at least exacerbate, certain characteristics of schizophrenia, and also how it might be especially problematic for persons with this style of being. The person with schizophrenia seems an anomalous yet also an exemplary figure: a person who fails to adopt the social practices or internalize the cultural frameworks essential to normal existence, yet who, in this very failure, typifies some of the most distinctive features of the modern age.
Investigation of surface wave propagation along a folded cylindrical helix array

The surface wave propagation along a closely-spaced folded cylindrical helix (FCH) array is investigated for the purpose of minimizing the size of the array element. It is found that the height of this surface wave guiding structure can be decreased from 0.24 λ o to 0.06 λ o by replacing the monopole with the folded cylindrical helix. The frequency band of the surface wave supported by the helix array is compared with that in the metal wire array. Furthermore, propagation constants are extracted by using ESPRIT algorithm [7], which indicates that a backward propagating surface wave is supported in the helix array structure.
Factors Associated With Failure of Nonoperative Treatment in Lateral Epicondylitis

Background:Lateral epicondylitis is a common cause of elbow pain that is treated with a variety of nonoperative measures and often improves with time. Minimal research is available on patients in whom these nonoperative treatments fail.Purpose:To identify baseline patient and disease factors associated with the failure of nonoperative treatment of lateral epicondylitis, defined as surgery after a period of nonoperative treatment.Study Design:Case control study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods:A total of 580 patients treated for lateral epicondylitis at a tertiary center between 2007 and 2012 were analyzed. Disease-specific and patient demographic characteristics were compared between patient groups (nonoperative vs surgical treatment). A multivariable logistic regression model was created based on preliminary univariate testing to determine which characteristics were associated with failure of nonoperative treatment.Results:Of the 580 patients, 92 (16%) underwent surgical treatment at a mean of 6 months (ran...
The influence of macromolecular polymerization on spin-lattice relaxation of aqueous solutions

The docking or polymerization of globular proteins is demonstrated to cause changes in proton NMR spin-lattice (T1) relaxation times. Studies on solutions of lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, actin, and tubulin are used to demonstrate that two mechanisms account for the observed changes in T1. Polymerization displaces the hydration water sheath surrounding globular proteins in solution that causes an increase in T1. Polymerization also slows the average tumbling rate of the proteins, which typically causes a contrary decrease in T1. The crystallization reaction of lysozyme in sodium chloride solution further demonstrates that the "effective" molecular weight can either decrease or increase T1 depending on how much the protein is slowed. The displacement of hydration water increases T1 because it speeds up the mean motional state of water in the solution. Macromolecular docking typically decreases T1 because it slows the mean motional state of the solute molecules. Cross-relaxation between the proteins and bound water provides the mechanism that allows macromolecular motion to influence the relaxation rate of the solvent. Fast chemical exchange between bound, structured, and bulk water accounts for monoexponential spin-lattice relaxation. Thus the spin-lattice relaxation rate of water in protein solutions is a complex reflection of the motional properties of all the molecules present containing proton magnetic dipoles. It is expected, as a result, that the characteristic relaxation times of tissues will reflect the influence of polymerization changes related to cellular activities.
Ultra-Low-Voltage Electrowetting

Electrovariable optical components based on liquid/liquid interfaces encompass microfluidic lenses and mirrors, fiber-optic switches, and display elements. These devices function on the basis of the electrowetting effect, where a liquid interface is deformed by an applied electric field. Existing electrovariable lenses use electrowetting on dielectrics; however, because of voltage losses across the dielectric layer typically a voltage variation of ∼60 V is required to achieve a full focal range. To date the lowest recorded voltage for shape deformation in display elements is 25 V, which is not ideal for portable devices. Herein we investigate the properties of an alternative system, based on the interface between two immiscible electrolytic solutions (ITIES). This system shows promise, reducing the voltage requirement for a substantial electrowetting response by 2 orders of magnitude. Presented are the first experimental demonstration of ITIES-based ultra-low-voltage electrowetting and a preliminary study...
The effect of daily bathing with chlorhexidine on the acquisition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, and healthcare-associated bloodstream infections: results of a quasi-experimental multicenter trial.

Hospital Epidemiologist (MWC), Hunter HolmesMcGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Richmond, VA;Vice Chair (KAS), Clinical Affairs Department of Medicine,Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY;Director (KAS), Infection Control, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Senior MedicalInformatician (GZ), Patient Safety-Risk Management,Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Welksley, MA; Professorof Medicine (VJF), Washington University School of Med-icine, St. Louis, MO; Co-Director (VJF), Infectious Dis-eases, Washington University School of Medicine,St. Louis, MO; Assistant Professor of Medicine (DKW),Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO;Professor of Medicine (TMP), Pathology and Epidemiol-ogy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; HospitalEpidemiologist (TMP), Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore,MD; Research Program Manager (KS), Johns HopkinsUniversity School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; DeputyChief (JAJ), Prevention and Response Branch, Division ofHealthcareQualityPromotion,CentersforDiseaseControland Prevention, Atlanta, GA; Associate Professor (JRR),Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Pro-fessor of Medicine (ESW), Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versity, Richmond, VA; and Chief (ESW), Infectious Dis-ease, McGuire Veterans Affairs Hospital, Richmond, VA.This work was supported by a cooperative programaward from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.For information regarding this article, E-mail:edward.wong@va.govCopyright © 2009 by the Society of Critical CareMedicine and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins