cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Reality of Racial Inequality in America

One of the most commonly invoked defenses of the colorblind ideology is that contemporary society has achieved an acceptable level of racial equality. A corresponding notion is that if we have not yet achieved a state of equal outcomes, we have at least achieved “opportunity equality.” In truth, society continues to be plagued by both racial and opportunity inequality. In Chapter 5, a brief summary of the reality of racial inequality and opportunity gaps is presented.
Retinal Vascular and Oxygen Temporal Dynamic Responses to Light Flicker in Humans.

Purpose To mathematically model the temporal dynamic responses of retinal vessel diameter (D), oxygen saturation (SO2), and inner retinal oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) to light flicker and to describe their responses to its cessation in humans. Methods In 16 healthy subjects (age: 60 ± 12 years), retinal oximetry was performed before, during, and after light flicker stimulation. At each time point, five metrics were measured: retinal arterial and venous D (DA, DV) and SO2 (SO2A, SO2V), and OEF. Intra- and intersubject variability of metrics was assessed by coefficient of variation of measurements before flicker within and among subjects, respectively. Metrics during flicker were modeled by exponential functions to determine the flicker-induced steady state metric values and the time constants of changes. Metrics after the cessation of flicker were compared to those before flicker. Results Intra- and intersubject variability for all metrics were less than 6% and 16%, respectively. At the flicker-induced steady state, DA and DV increased by 5%, SO2V increased by 7%, and OEF decreased by 13%. The time constants of DA and DV (14, 15 seconds) were twofold smaller than those of SO2V and OEF (39, 34 seconds). Within 26 seconds after the cessation of flicker, all metrics were not significantly different from before flicker values (P ≥ 0.07). Conclusions Mathematical modeling revealed considerable differences in the time courses of changes among metrics during flicker, indicating flicker duration should be considered separately for each metric. Future application of this method may be useful to elucidate alterations in temporal dynamic responses to light flicker due to retinal diseases.
Temperature drives epidemics in a zooplankton-fungus disease system: A trait-driven approach points to transmission via host foraging

Climatic warming will likely have idiosyncratic impacts on infectious diseases, causing some to increase while others decrease or shift geographically. A mechanistic framework could better predict these different temperature-disease outcomes. However, such a framework remains challenging to develop, due to the nonlinear and (sometimes) opposing thermal responses of different host and parasite traits and due to the difficulty of validating model predictions with observations and experiments. We address these challenges in a zooplankton-fungus (Daphnia dentifera-Metschnikowia bicuspidata) system. We test the hypothesis that warmer temperatures promote disease spread and produce larger epidemics. In lakes, epidemics that start earlier and warmer in autumn grow much larger. In a mesocosm experiment, warmer temperatures produced larger epidemics. A mechanistic model parameterized with trait assays revealed that this pattern arose primarily from the temperature dependence of transmission rate (β), governed by the increasing foraging (and, hence, parasite exposure) rate of hosts (f). In the trait assays, parasite production seemed sufficiently responsive to shape epidemics as well; however, this trait proved too thermally insensitive in the mesocosm experiment and lake survey to matter much. Thus, in warmer environments, increased foraging of hosts raised transmission rate, yielding bigger epidemics through a potentially general, exposure-based mechanism for ectotherms. This mechanistic approach highlights how a trait-based framework will enhance predictive insight into responses of infectious disease to a warmer world.
Metabolic Relationship Between Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts and Cancer Cells

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), a major component of the tumor microenvironment (TME), play an important role in cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. Recent findings have demonstrated that the TME not only provides physical support for cancer cells, but also directs cell-to-cell interactions (in this case the interaction between cancer cells and CAFs). As cancer progresses, the CAFs also co evolve—transitioning from an inactivated state to an activated state. The elucidation and understanding of the interaction between cancer cells and CAFs will pave the way for new cancer therapies [1–3].
ACR Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (NI-RADS): A White Paper of the ACR NI-RADS Committee.

Imaging surveillance after treatment for head and neck cancer is challenging because of complicated resection and reconstruction surgery, in addition to posttreatment changes from radiation and chemotherapy. The posttreatment neck is often a source of anxiety for diagnostic radiologists, leading to suboptimal reporting and no standardized guidance for next management steps. Nevertheless, imaging is critical for detecting submucosal recurrences in a timely manner, so that patients remain candidates for salvage surgery. In 2016, the ACR convened the Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (NI-RADS) Committee with the goals to (1) provide recommendations for surveillance imaging; (2) produce a lexicon to distinguish between benign posttreatment change and residual or recurrent tumor in the posttreatment neck; and (3) propose a NI-RADS template for reporting on the basis of this lexicon with defined levels of suspicion and management recommendations. In this article, the authors present the ACR NI-RADS Committee's recommendations, which provide guidance regarding the management of patients after treatment for head and neck cancer.
Technology and Costing of Air Pollution Abatement

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the basic approaches to abatement of air pollution. In selecting an abatement system, one must consider the air pollutant emissions, the gas stream containing the emissions, and the required goal in emission reduction. In characterizing the emissions, its gas stream, and the requirements for removal, the first step is to develop enough background information to evaluate alternative abatement systems and to compute the cost and other impacts of these systems. With this background information, the engineer can evaluate the various abatement systems, select the appropriate system, and design the system in detail. The nature of the pollutants and the gas stream containing the pollutants is key to the design and effectiveness of the abatement system. Air pollutants can be generated and emitted in one of three physical states: gaseous, liquid, or solid. Gaseous air pollutants can be reduced through chemical reactions such as combustion or through physical means such as condensation. In general, emissions of solid air pollutants are reduced through physical means such as impaction or filtration. Liquid air pollutants can be treated as solid air pollutants, but also may be heated to change the liquid to a gas for abatement as a gas.
Prostaglandins and the Inflammatory Response

Prostaglandins not only mediate the classic signs of inflammation but also help to regulate the function of cellular constituents in an inflammatory reaction. Clinical and experimental evidence of the role of prostaglandins as mediators is highlighted.
Exploiting Knowledge Across Distinct Domains: Learning Event Details from Network Logs

Modern wireless networks record large amount of network log data. Network administrators and central controllers utilize log data to monitor the health of networks and optimize system performance. Though log-structured data are a great source of data revealing recurrent patterns in networking, they have not been exploited for insights in a wider scope, compared to the recognition of time-series signal data and sequences in language and text. We design a data processing method to convert incomprehensible log data into intelligible vectors. We also propose to utilize recurrent models combined with an output layer of multi-label linear transformation to learn on-campus event details from exploitation on data in network domain. Our evaluation shows performance advantages (metrics of ROC, accuracy and F1 score)of recurrent models over SVM, by leveraging temporal nature in network logs.
Police Officer and Supervisor Perceptions of Body-Worn Cameras Pre- and Postimplementation: The Importance of Officer Buy-in:

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are increasingly more common in their use among police officers. Research on BWCs is the focus of an increasing number of studies seeking information on stakeholder percept...
The indicative vs. subjunctive alternation with expressions of possibility in Spanish: A multifactorial analysis

Abstract This study explores the indicative vs. subjunctive alternation in Spanish subordinate clauses following epistemic adverbials and expressions of possibility. Anchored in semantic-pragmatic and variationist theoretical frameworks, traditional research on mood alternation in Spanish remains largely experimental in nature. In contrast, we adopt a corpus-based multifactorial methodology to investigate 4,199 occurrences of fourteen expressions of possibility extracted from the Corpus del Espanol (e.g. caso de que, poder ser que, por si acaso, posiblemente, etc.) annotated contextually for structural, semantic and stylistic variables. Methodologically, we conduct an exploratory multiple correspondence analysis followed by a confirmatory binary logistic regression to examine whether/how the linguistic contexts affect mood variation. Overall, the results indicate that previously unexplored semantic factors (such as the inherent lexical aspect of verbs in subordinate clauses) significantly influence mood variation in Spanish. Ultimately, our results suggest that subjunctive uses are less uniform and more prone to internal variation than indicative uses.
Online Product Reviews: Effects of Star Ratings and Valence on Review Perception among Those High and Low in Need for Cognition:

This study seeks to understand online product review perception based on ratings, valence, and need for cognition. Review perception, review recollection, and intent to purchase after reading the r...
Finite element analysis of an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method for Stokes/parabolic moving interface problem with jump coefficients

Abstract In this paper, a type of arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) finite element method in the monolithic frame is developed for a linearized fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problem — an unsteady Stokes/parabolic interface problem with jump coefficients and moving interface, where, the corresponding mixed finite element approximation in both semi- and fully discrete scheme are developed and analyzed based upon one type of ALE formulation and a novel H 1 -projection technique associated with a moving interface problem, and the stability and optimal convergence properties in the energy norm are obtained for both discretizations to approximate the solution of a transient Stokes/parabolic interface problem that is equipped with a low regularity. Numerical experiments further validate all theoretical results. The developed analytical approaches and numerical implementations can be similarly extended to a realistic FSI problem in the future.
Glass and Lace

Two unrelated events in January, 2020, on opposite coasts of North America, precipitated these inconclusive musings.
Analysis of N-acetyl cysteine modified polydimethylsiloxane shunt for improved treatment of hydrocephalus.

A major cause of hydrocephalus shunt failure is cell adhesion and obstruction of shunt catheter holes. An estimated 50% of pediatric shunts fail in the first 2 years of insertion, decreasing cell attachment and catheter obstruction can prolong the lifetime and effectiveness of the device. From previous studies, it was shown that treatment of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface of a standard catheter with an N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC/1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylanimopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride/N-hydroxysuccinimide) layer increases the wettability of the surface and has been shown to decrease cell adhesion. Other studies indicate that NAC's antioxidant behavior induces glutathione and in turn modulates cell inflammatory pathways. The current study explores the longevity of the NAC coating from the surface of the catheter over time and shows its effect on valve function. Using SEM imaging, contact angle testing, and nanodrop spectrophotometry, this release was quantified for shunt samples incubated for 0, 10, 30, 60, and 90 days. Contact angle showed a significant increase in wettability of the surface when shunts were treated with NAC, confirming successful surface modification. Pressure assays determined that if the coating is release it had no detrimental downstream effects, such as on the shunt valve mechanism. SEM imaging revealed slight deformations in surface coating indicative of salt deposition on the modified shunt samples, while nanodrop spectrophotometry and contact angle data trends suggested some discharge of the NAC coating from the catheter surfaces. The effects of NAC on cell activity may transform the way hydrocephalus is treated in the future by increasing the longevity of the shunt to protect from obstruction.
Single crystal growth and characterization of new Zintl phase Ca9Zn3.1In0.9Sb9

Abstract Complex Zintl phases have yielded a large variety of promising new thermoelectric materials. In this study we report the discovery of the new Zintl phase Ca9(Zn1–xInx)4Sb9 (x ​~ ​0.9), needle-like crystals of which were serendipitously obtained from an In- and Sb-rich flux. Although its composition is reminiscent of Ca9Zn4+xSb9, an excellent thermoelectric material with zT ​> ​1, the substitution of In on the Zn site leads to the formation of an entirely new structure type. Single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed a structure characterized by TSb4 tetrahedra (T ​= ​statistically disordered Zn and In atoms) and ZnSb3 triangular units, which share common corners to form [T4Sb9]18− polyanions. The average structure was found to have hexagonal symmetry. The valence electron count in this heavily-disordered structure appears to follows the Zintl-Klemm rules, suggesting semiconducting behavior. Single crystal electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements support this conclusion, suggesting that the as-grown crystals are degenerate p-type semiconductors.
WHAT DOES βSMB > 0 REALLY MEAN?

A positive SMB coefficient in a Fama–French regression is often interpreted as signaling a portfolio weighted toward small-cap stocks. We present a very large portfolio, which has a positive SMB coefficient for all periods. We emphasize that this is associated with the coexistence of both “M”—the market—and “SMB”—the mimicking portfolio for size—in the Fama–French three-factor model. We explain why the model can attribute small size to large-cap stocks and portfolios. The results highlight how coefficients should be interpreted when a self-financing portfolio is used for portfolio attribution.
ANALYSES OF INTEGRAL AND MOX CRITICAL EXPERIMENTS TO QUALIFY PARAGON2 PREDICTIONS

This paper presents the qualification of the newly developed Westinghouse lattice physics code PARAGON2. PARAGON2 uses high energy resolution in the solution of the transport equation. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that PARAGON2 accurately predicts the integral and critical experiments. The integral experiments are used to assess PARAGON2 predictions of fine neutronics parameters such as: resonance integrals and radial profiles of reactions rates, isotopics, and burnup for depleted pellets. The integral experiments considered are: the Hellstrand’s, TRX, and the PIE experiments. For critical experiments, this paper will focus only on VENUS-2 MOX critical experiment.The results obtained for the integral experiments clearly show the good predictions of PARAGON2 with the resonance scattering model which are close to measurement. The PARAGON2 predicted capture reaction rates, temperature coefficients, burnup and isotopic profiles match the measured values both in shape and magnitude. VENUS-2 reactivity prediction is in excellent agreement with the critical measurement value. Also, the standard deviations of measured minus predicted pin-wise fission reaction rates are very good (i.e. ≤ 2%) for both individual assemblies and the whole core.
Association Between Successful Aging Activities and Perceived Health Among Older Adults With Hearing and/or Vision Impairments:

Due to the high prevalence of age-related sensory impairment (SI), this study examined the relative strength of the association between successful aging activities and perceived health among older ...
White supremacy confronted: U.S. imperialism and anti-communism vs. the liberation of Southern Africa, from Rhodes to Mandela: edited by Gerald Horne, New York, International Publishers, 2019, viii + 883 pp., $28.99 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-07178-0-763-5

In June 1966, US Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited South Africa after receiving an invitation from the National Union of South African Students to deliver a speech at the National Day of Affirmatio...
Biomarkers of clinical severity in treated and untreated sickle cell disease: a comparison by genotypes of a single center cohort and African Americans in the NHANES study

Haemolysis and vaso-occlusion underlie multi-organ system complications in sickle cell disease (SCD). We assessed real-world biomarkers in University of Illinois adult SCD patients, categorised as severe (HbSS/Sβ0 -thalassaemia; n = 342) or mild (HbSC/Sβ+ -thalassaemia; n = 100) genotypes and stratified according to treatment. African-American controls from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were matched with each genotype category. Most measures of haemolysis, anaemia, inflammation and function of kidneys, liver and lungs differed markedly in untreated severe genotype patients compared to NHANES controls. These same biomarkers were significantly closer to the NHANES control range in untreated mild versus severe genotype patients, but they were not improved in severe genotype patients receiving treatment with hydroxycarbamide or blood transfusions, except that haemoglobin and HbF were higher with hydroxycarbamide. Systolic blood pressures did not differ among the SCD and NHANES groups, but diastolic pressures were higher in mild genotype patients. Ferritin in severe genotype patients on chronic transfusions was 50-fold higher than NHANES controls. The cross-sectional real-world biomarkers of patients on hydroxycarbamide or transfusions were not markedly improved compared to untreated patients. This may be due partly to poor compliance or more severe disease. Our findings highlight the need for more effective treatments.
Rapid production of bicontinuous macroporous materials using intrinsically polymerizable bijels

The discovery of bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels) in 2007 motivated the development of processing techniques to harness their unique morphological attributes in applications such as electrochemical energy storage and conversion, catalysis, and regenerative biomaterials. These techniques are primarily based on selective polymerization of one phase, and subsequent chemical processing of the resultant scaffold into porous, micro-architectured materials. A significant limitation of these protocols is the need to transport polymer precursors into one of the fluid phases after bijel formation, a time-consuming step that can also impose disruptive gravitational and interfacial stresses, sometimes causing a complete breakdown of the bijel backbone. Here, we introduce a class of intrinsically polymerizable bijels (IPBs) comprising partially miscible mixtures of solvent and poly(ethylene glycol) precursor, which can be directly transformed into bijel-templated materials (BTMs), completely bypassing the precursor transport step and relaxing the associated limitations of previous protocols. To achieve selective polymerization, we incorporated into the mixture a common fluorescent dye, sodium fluorescein, which had strong affinity for the monomer-poor phase. Spectrophotometry experiments demonstrated a local photon quenching effect due to the fluorescent dye, which in turn curtailed activation of the photoinitiator and thus prevented polymerization in the monomer-poor phase. We establish the generality of our approach by using different monomers and monomer blends, and demonstrate how this modularity enables tuning of the mechanical properties of BTMs, measured by flexural testing. Our protocol establishes a scalable and efficient platform for producing BTMs, paving the way for their protential applications in emerging technologies.
Assessing improved risk prediction of rheumatoid arthritis by environmental, genetic, and metabolomic factors.

Abstract Objective We sought to improve seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk prediction using a novel weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) and preclinical plasma metabolites associated with RA risk. Predictive performance was compared to previously validated models including RA-associated environmental factors. Methods This nested case-control study matched incident seropositive RA cases (meeting ACR 1987 or EULAR/ACR 2010 criteria) in the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS) to two controls on age, blood collection features, and post-menopausal hormone use at pre-RA blood draw. Environmental variables were measured at the questionnaire cycle preceding blood draw. Four models were generated and internally validated using a bootstrapped optimism estimate: (a) base with environmental factors (E), (b) environmental, genetic and gene-environment interaction factors (E + G + GEI), c) environmental and metabolic factors (E + M), and d) all factors (E + G + GEI + M). A fifth model including all factors and interaction terms was fit using ridge regression and cross-validation. Models were compared using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results 150 pre-RA cases and 455 matched controls were included. The E model yielded an optimism-corrected AUC of 0.622. The E + M model did not show improvement over the E model (corrected AUC 0.620). Including genetic factors increased prediction, producing corrected AUCs of 0.677 in the E + G + GEI model and 0.674 in the E + G + GEI + M model. Similarly, the performance of the cross-validated ridge regression model yielded an AUC of 0.657. Conclusion Addition of wGRS and gene-environment interaction improved seropositive RA risk prediction models. Preclinical metabolite levels did not significantly contribute to prediction.
The Imperatives of Supporting New Scholarly Voices

The Legal Scholar’s Guidebook is dedicated “to all the voices longing to be heard,” previewing for readers the important values that the book champions of inviting more scholars to the table. The book is grounded in values of inclusivity and accessibility. It describes the analytic paradigms and organizational frameworks that govern traditional legal scholarship. The book implicitly reveals to readers something of a tension between conformity and inclusion. How do supervisors and mentors cultivate the development of new scholarly voices, particularly marginalized voices, within a context of reverent conformity to existing paradigms, methods, and schemas? In teaching scholarly writing, is the reverence and conformity to existing scholarship lifting up voices longing to be heard or is it conforming the voices longing to be heard with the dominant voices already being heard? The Legal Scholar’s Guidebook is savvy in its quest to help the voices longing to be heard, and in its efforts to help address the self-doubts that nag so many scholars. It introduces important concepts of inclusion and imposter syndrome, boldly addressing them head-on, which is worthy of great gratitude. It embeds guidance throughout each chapter to “squelch the imposter voice” that can compromise the production of scholarship. The solution to the “imposter syndrome” though may not be more instruction. Mentors can reinforce the problem if those mentors share a different pedigree, background, resume from the scholar, or if those mentors are confused or conflated with supervisors. The Legal Scholar’s Guidebook, when read during a global pandemic and amid a crescendo of calls for racial justice in our communities, calls for our self-reflection as a community of scholars. Conquering imposter syndrome requires a strong sense of authenticity and belonging. This requires an alignment between one’s authentic values and identity and acceptance in a setting, institution, or task. For readers of this book in modern political, economic, and social times, it might be a springboard to deeper conversations about the chasms between the communities that feel like they belong in legal scholarship and those that do not. It might call for us all to strengthen the intentionality of our mentoring of students of color, nontraditional students, LGBTQ+ students, and women students. There has never been a better moment for us all to revisit how we produce and define “good” scholarship, the breadth of the scholarly voices we reproduce and consume, and the entrenched assumptions and hierarchies that shape our scholarly practices. In that sense, this guidebook might guide us all to a more inclusive and inviting place uplifting new scholarly voices.
Near-Optimal Experimental Design for Networks: Independent Block Randomization

Motivated by the prevalence of experimentation in online platforms and social networks, we consider the problem of designing randomized experiments to assess the effectiveness of a new market intervention for a network of users. An experiment assigns each user to either the treatment or the control group. The outcome of each user depends on her assignment as well as the assignments of her neighbors. Given the experiment, the unbiased Horvitz-Thompson estimator is used to estimate the total market effect of the treatment. The decision maker chooses randomized assignments of users to treatment and control, in order to minimize the worst-case variance of this estimator. We focus on networks that can be partitioned into communities, where the users in the same community are densely connected, and users from different communities are only loosely connected. In such settings, it is almost without loss to assign all users in the same community to the same variant (treatment or control). The problem of designing the optimal randomized assignments of communities can be formulated as a linear program with exponential number of decision variables and constraints in the number of communities -- and hence is in general computationally intractable. We develop a family of practical experiments that we refer to as \emph{independent block randomization (IBR)} experiments. Such an experiment partitions communities into blocks so that each block contains communities of similar sizes. It then treats half of the communities in each block (chosen uniformly at random) and does so independently across blocks. The optimal community partition can be obtained in a tractable way using dynamic programming. We show that these policies are asymptotically optimal when the number of communities grows large and no community size dominates the rest. In the special case where community sizes take values in a finite set and the number of communities of each size is a fixed proportion of the total number of communities, the loss is only a constant that is independent of the number of communities. Beyond the asymptotic regime, we show that the IBR experiment is a 7/3-approximation for any problem instance. We also examine the performance of the IBR experiments on data-driven numerical examples, including an example based on a Facebook subnetwork.
Autophagy and UPR in alpha-crystallin mutant knock-in mouse models of hereditary cataracts.

Abstract Background Knock-in mice provide useful models of congenital and age-related cataracts caused by α-crystallin mutations. R49C αA-crystallin and R120G αB-crystallin mutations are linked with hereditary cataracts. Knock-in αA-R49C +/− heterozygotes develop cataracts by 1–2 months, whereas homozygote mice have cataracts at birth. The R49C mutation drastically reduces lens protein water solubility and causes cell death in knock-in mouse lenses. Mutant crystallin cannot function as a chaperone, which leads to protein aggregation and lens opacity. Protein aggregation disrupts the lens fiber cell structure and normal development and causes cell death in epithelial and fiber cells. We determined what aspects of the wild-type phenotype are age-dependently altered in the mutant lens. Methods Wild-type, heterozygote (αA-R49C +/−), and homozygote (αA-R49C +/+) mouse lenses were assessed pre- and postnatally for lens morphology (electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry), and autophagy or unfolded protein response markers (immunoblotting). Results Morphology was altered by embryonic day 17 in R49C +/+ lenses; R49C +/− lens morphology was unaffected at this stage. Active autophagy in the lens epithelium of mutant lenses was indicated by the presence of autophagosomes using electron microscopy. Protein p62 levels, which are degraded specifically by autophagy, increased in αA-R49C mutant versus wild-type lenses, suggesting autophagy inhibition in the mutant lenses. The unfolded protein response marker XBP-1 was upregulated in adult lenses of αB-R120G +/+ mice, suggesting its role in lens opacification. Conclusions Mutated crystallins alter lens morphology, autophagy, and stress responses. General significance Therapeutic modulation of autophagic pathways may improve protein degradation in cataractous lenses and reduce lens opacity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Crystallin Biochemistry in Health and Disease.
Interferon action and the double-stranded RNA-dependent enzymes ADAR1 adenosine deaminase and PKR protein kinase.

Publisher Summary Interferons were discovered as antiviral agents. These cytokines possess multiple activities that include the ability to affect cell growth, differentiation, and death, in addition to their hallmark ability to interfere with virus multiplication. This chapter focuses on the organization and regulated expression of the ADAR1 and PKR genes, the biochemical and biophysical properties of the ADAR1 and PKR proteins, and the mechanisms by which ADAR1 and PKR modulate the physiology of cultured cells and intact animals. Two important genes regulated by interferons are ADAR1 and PKR. ADAR1 and PKR encode double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-binding proteins that are responsible, in part, for the biochemical and mechanistic actions of interferons. Both forms of ADAR1, p150 and p110, function to modify the expression of genetic information by changing cellular and viral RNAs through substitution of an inosine, which is recognized as guanine, for adenine. PKR is an RNA-dependent protein kinase that controls the translational pattern in cells through phosphorylation of the α subunit of protein synthesis initiation factor eIF-2; PKR also modulates signal transduction processes. The chapter discusses the roles that these proteins might play in genetic and infectious human diseases.
Implementing Quality Assurance Programs in MultiGroup Practices for Treating Hypercholesterolemia in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Healthcare reform is driving the development of specialty physician practices into larger regional and national physician networks. These networks arise from the federation of > or =2 practices that negotiate with managed-care organizations for contracts. Developing cardiovascular networks and establishing and implementing lipid management quality assurance programs into the network are presented in this article. Goals of the lipid management program include enhancing the identification, diagnosis, education, and comprehensive treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. Utilizing an integrated, coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to lipid management allows the cardiology network to improve patients' quality of life, reduce long-term costs, and gain a competitive advantage for successful contracting. A network lipid management program involves targeting eligible patients and treating them to a targeted level for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol where possible. Among cardiologists, there is a consensus that achieving an LDL cholesterol of < 100 mg/dL for patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease is desirable. Secondary lipid management program goals include: (1) collecting, storing, and analyzing patient demographics; (2) implementing programs involving lifestyle modification, smoking cessation, weight control; and (3) measuring clinical and economic outcomes. Convergence of several driving forces in managing hypercholesterolemia provides cardiologists with the ability to improve the process. These forces include: market-consolidated delivery systems, established lipid management guidelines, and employer-initiated policies requiring higher quality care within managed-care organizations. Methods to achieve enhanced treatment effectiveness, patient satisfaction, and control costs are discussed. Utilizing multidisciplinary teams including nurse case managers, clinical pharmacists, dietitians, and physician assistants to achieve lipid level goals and for nutritional counseling is desirable. Developing disease state management programs, treatment algorithms, databases with analytic reports, and process improvement across the network is of paramount importance for future progress and success.
Predicting reversed-phase gradient elution separations by computer simulation : A comparison of two different programs

Abstract Two computer programs for developing and improving high-performance liquid chromatographic methods, DryLab G and LCSIM, have recently been described. The accuracies of these two programs were examined using experimental (o-phthalaldehyde-derivatized amino acids) and synthetic data. DryLab G, which uses gradient data for input, correctly predicted retention times for various gradient and isocratic separations. Predicted retention times for the simulation of certain isocratic conditions are susceptible to errors in the measured dwell volume, but the prediction of resolution is not seriously affected. LCSIM uses isocratic data for input, and predicted gradient retention times are affected by the accuracy of the measured dwell volume. The resolution of closely eluting analytes was usually predicted within a small fraction of the peak width, i.e., with negligible errors. Examples are given for some unique features of the LCSIM program: solvent switching and mixing, optional descending gradients, graphics display of the separation process and an iterative fit of the separation parameters to the retention characteristics of a new column (as measured from a single run).
Ascertainment of iron deficiency and depletion in blood donors through screening questions for pica and restless legs syndrome.

Background Pica and restless legs syndrome (RLS) are associated with iron depletion and deficiency. The presence of pica and RLS was prospectively assessed in blood donors. Study Design and Methods During a 39-month period, 1236 donors deferred for fingerstick hemoglobin (Hb) level of less than 12.5 g/dL and 400 nondeferred “control” donors underwent health screening and laboratory testing (complete blood count, ferritin, iron, transferrin). Pica and RLS were assessed by direct questioning. Deferred donors and iron-deficient control donors were given 325 mg of ferrous sulfate daily for 60 days. Reassessments were performed and additional iron tablets dispensed at subsequent visits. Results Pica was reported in 11% of donors with iron depletion or deficiency, compared with 4% of iron-replete donors (p < 0.0001). Pagophagia (ice pica) was most common and often of extraordinary intensity. Female sex, younger age, and lower mean cell volume and transferrin saturation values were strongly associated with pica. Donors with pica given iron reported a marked reduction in the desire to consume the nonnutritive substance by Days 5 to 8 of therapy, with disappearance of symptoms by Days 10 to 14. RLS was reported in 16% of subjects with iron depletion or deficiency compared with 11% of iron-replete donors (p = 0.012). Iron replacement generally resulted in improvement of RLS symptoms; however, at least 4 to 6 weeks of iron therapy was necessary. Conclusion The presence of pica is associated with a high probability of iron depletion or deficiency in blood donors; however, RLS lacks a strong correlation in this population. Screening questions for pagophagia may be useful in the ascertainment of iron deficiency in donors and may identify those who would benefit from oral iron.
Coupled-Channel Studies of Rotational and Vibrational Energy Transfer by Collision

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the coupled-channel studies of rotational and vibrational energy transfer by collision. For nonreactive collisions of closed-shell molecules at energies below the threshold of electronic excitation, nuclear motion is determined by a single potential energy surface. Under these conditions, the physical processes possible are elastic scattering and energy exchange between the translational (T), rotational (R), and vibrational (V) degrees of freedom. Almost all non-empirical potential energy surfaces determined over a range of coordinate space to be usable for scattering applications have been computed following the Hartree-Fock (HF) and configuration interaction (CI) models. A method that, in principle, can yield the exact solution of the collision dynamics on a specified potential energy surface is the ‘coupled channel’ or ‘close-coupling’ (CC) method. Applications of CC methods have been restricted almost exclusively to collisions of H, He, and Li + with H 2 because of the lack of availability of accurate ab initio and reliable semi-empirical potential energy surfaces for larger systems. The H 2 molecule provides a particularly useful scattering target because of its large energy level spacing, which greatly reduces the range of excitations possible at specified collision energy. This chapter examines the dependence of computed cross sections on selected computational and physical parameters.
Racial disparities in diabetes a century ago: Evidence from the pension files of US Civil War veterans

Using a comprehensive database constructed from the pension files of US Civil War veterans, we explore characteristics and occurrence of type 2 diabetes among older black and white males, living circa 1900. We find that rates of diagnosed diabetes were much lower among males in this period than a century later. In contrast to the late 20th Century, the rates of diagnosed diabetes were lower among black than among white males, suggesting that the reverse pattern is of relatively recent origin. Two-thirds of both white and black veterans had body-mass indexes (BMIs) in the currently recommended weight range, a far higher proportion than documented by recent surveys. Longevity among persons with diabetes was not reduced among Civil War veterans, and those with diabetes suffered comparatively few sequelae of the condition. Over 90% of black veterans engaged in low paying, high-physical effort jobs, as compared to about half of white veterans. High rates of work-related physical activity may provide a partial explanation of low rates of diagnosed diabetes among blacks. We found no evidence of discrimination in testing by race, as indicated by rates of examinations in which a urinalysis was performed. This dataset is valuable for providing a national benchmark against which to compare modern diabetes prevalence patterns.
Single umbilical artery.

Careful examination of the umbilical cord at its point of entry into the infant in a consecutive series of 2,000 live births revealed an incidence of 0.3 per cent of single umbilical artery. There was no correlation with renal anomalies. Two of the six infants with single umbilical artery had 16–18 trisomy. The remainder of the infants have no detectable congenital anomaly after 8 to 24 months of observation.
Neutrino-KAVE: An immersive visualization and fitting tool for neutrino physics education

Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors, like the existing Super-Kamiokande ("Super-K") and the planned Hyper-Kamiokande ("Hyper-K") detectors, are used to study neutrino particle physics. These detectors consist of large vessels holding many thousands of tons of water, as well as tens of thousands of photomultiplier tubes. Such detectors produce large and multi-layered datasets well-suited to immersive visualization and interaction. We have developed a novel virtual reality (VR) application called Neutrino-KAVE which functions as an visualization and data interaction application. Neutrino-KAVE displays the collocation of photon sensors and their color-coded data within a to-scale representation of the Super-K or Hyper-K detector, and provides a new visualization technique for neutrino interaction patterns. Neutrino-KAVE also provides both a mechanism for modifying aspects of the presented data set, and a user interface for system control of this multifaceted application. In this paper, we describe in detail our implementation and design choices. We also report on its use cases, initial reception, and future development.
Solvent Properties of Aqueous Biphasic Systems Composed of Polyethylene Glycol and Salt Characterized by the Free Energy of Transfer of a Methylene Group between the Phases and by a Linear Solvation Energy Relationship

Aqueous biphasic systems (ABSs) composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and salt have been examined as potential environmentally benign solvents for liquid/liquid extraction. These systems might also represent an alternative to traditional solvent/water systems used in quantitative structure−activity relationships (QSARs). For the application and design of these systems, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the nature of the solvent and its interactions with the solute, and thus, PEG/salt ABSs have been characterized to this end by a variety of methods. The relative hydrophobicities of several PEG/salt ABSs composed of different molecular weights of PEG (1000, 2000, and 3400) and a variety of inorganic salts [K3PO4, K2CO3, (NH4)2SO4, Li2SO4, MnSO4, ZnSO4, and NaOH] were measured by the free energy of transfer of a methylene group ΔGCH2. These results indicate that the relative hydrophobicity of a PEG/salt ABS is a function of only the degree of phase divergence of the biphasic system as exp...
Can AST/ALT ratio indicate recovery after acute paracetamol poisoning? The authors reply.

To the Editor: We are grateful for Professor Bateman's interest and insightful comments. We fully agree that the ongoing assessment of a patient with hepatotoxicity following paracetamol overdose s...
Lubricious silver tantalate films for extreme temperature applications

Abstract Silver tantalate was investigated as a potential lubricious material for moving assemblies in high temperature tribological applications. Three different approaches were explored for the creation of such materials on Inconel substrates: (1) powders produced using a solid state which were burnished on the surface; (2) monolithic silver tantalate thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering; and, (3) an adaptive tantalum nitride/silver nanocomposite sputter-deposited coating that forms a lubricious silver tantalate oxide on its surface when operated at elevated temperatures. Dry sliding wear tests of the coatings against Si 3 N 4 counterfaces revealed friction coefficients in the 0.06–0.15 range at T ~ 750 °C. Reduced friction coefficients were found in nanocomposite materials that contained primarily a AgTaO 3 phase with a small amount of segregated Ag phase, as suggested by structural characterization using X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy techniques determined that the reduced coefficient of friction at T ~ 750 °C was primarily the result of the formation of a lubricious AgTaO 3 phase that reconstructs during the wear process into a mechanically mixed layer of AgTaO 3 , Ta 2 O 5 , and Ag nanoparticles.
Rethinking School Leadership Programs: The USC Ed.D. Program in Perspective

The Ed.D. program at the University of Southern California focuses on leadership in urban education. The article describes the rationale and guiding principles for the program and its design in terms of core knowledge, inquiry, signature pedagogy, concentrations, and capstone experiences. The article concludes with an assessment of our contributions to date and a set of challenges that will direct our efforts in the near future.
Geochemical characteristics of basaltic glasses from theamar andfamous axial valleys, Mid-Atlantic Ridge (36°–37°N): Petrogenetic implications

The axial valley of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from 36° to 37°N was intensively sampled by submersible during thefamous andamar projects. Our research focussed on the compositional and isotopic characteristics of basaltic glasses from theamar valley and thenarrowgate region of thefamous valley. These basaltic glasses are characterized by: (1) major element abundance trends that are consistent with control by multiphase fractionation (olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene) and magma mixing, (2) near isotopic homogeneityδ18O= 5.2to6.4,87Sr/86Sr= 0.70288to0.70299 and206Pb/204Pb= 18.57to18.84, and (3) a wide range of incompatible element abundance ratios; e.g., within theamar valley chondrite-normalizedLa/Sm ranges from 0.7 to 1.5 andLa/Yb from 0.6 to 1.6. These ratios increase with decreasing MgO content. Because of the limited variations in isotopic ratios of Sr, Nd and Pb, it is plausible that these compositional variations reflect post-melting magmatic processes. However, it is not possible to explain the correlated variation in MgO content and incompatible element abundance ratios, such asLa/Sm andZr/Nb, by fractional crystallization or more complex processes such as boundary layer fractionation. These geochemical trends can be explained by mixing of parental magmas that formed by very different extents of melting. In particular, the factor of three variation in Ce content in samples with ∼ 2.1% Na2O and 8% MgO requires a component derived by < 1% melting. If the large variations in abundance ratios of incompatible elements reflect the melting process, a large, long-lived magma chamber was not present during eruption of theseamar lavas. The geological characteristics of theamar valley and the compositions ofamar lavas are consistent with episodic volcanism; i.e., periods of magma eruption were followed by extensive periods of tectonism with little or no magmatism.
Removal of Y-37 from tRNAyeastphe alters oligomer binding to two loops

Abstract The association constants of complementary oligomers were used to monitor changes in the structure of tRNAyeastphe as a consequence of excision of a single base Y in the anticodon loop and of clipping the molecule at the point of excision. Significant changes were found not only in the binding constants of oligomers complementary to the anticodon loop but also in the K of an oligomer complementary to the dihydro U loop. The results suggest that either a single base change in a tRNA may alter structure elsewhere in the molecule or that the acid treatment necessary to remove Y irreversibly alters the structure of tRNAyeastphe.
Hyperalgesic pseudothrombophlebitis. New syndrome in male homosexuals.

Abstract Five male homosexuals, four of whom had Kaposi's sarcoma, presented with painful swelling of the lower extremity. The overlying skin was erythematous and exquisitely tender. Deep vein thrombosis was strongly suspected in all patients. Venography, however, revealed no evidence of venous occlusion. This condition, which in this report is termed the hyperalgesic pseudothrombophlebitis syndrome, appears to be another unusual manifestation of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It should be considered among the entities known to mimic deep vein thrombosis and must be recognized in order to prevent unnecessary anticoagulation In these patients.