cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thalamocortical functional connectivity and behavioral disruptions in neonates with prenatal cocaine exposure.

Abstract Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) affects neurobehavioral development, however, disentangling direct drug-related mechanisms from contextual effects (e.g., socioeconomic status) has proven challenging in humans. The effects of environmental confounds are minimal immediately after birth thus we aimed to delineate neurobehavioral correlates of PCE in a large cohort of neonates (2–6 weeks of age, N = 152) with and without drug exposure using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) and developmental assessments at 3 months with the Bayley Scales of Infant & Toddler Development, 3rd edition. The cohort included healthy controls and neonates with similar poly-drug exposure ± cocaine. We focused on the thalamus given its critical importance in early brain development and its unique positioning in the dopamine system. Our results revealed PCE-related hyper-connectivity between the thalamus and frontal regions and a drug-common hypo-connective signature between the thalamus and motor-related regions. PCE-specific neonatal thalamo-frontal connectivity was inversely related to cognitive and fine motor scores and thalamo-motor connectivity showed a positive relationship with composite (gross plus fine) motor scores. Finally, cocaine by selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitor (SSRI) interactions were detected, suggesting the combined use of these drugs during pregnancy could have additional consequences on fetal development. Overall, our findings provide the first delineation of PCE-related disruptions of thalamocortical functional connectivity, neurobehavioral correlations, and drug-drug interactions during infancy.
Radical prostatectomy after radiotherapy for prostatic cancer

We report on 18 patients with clinical stages B and C carcinoma of the prostate who underwent radiotherapy to the prostate, followed by radical retropubic prostatectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy. Of the 18 patients only 2 (1 with grade 1 and 1 with grade 4 disease) had no residual local cancer at operation. Surgical morbidity was minimal in the 18 patients and only 3 patients had spread of the disease after the combined treatment. Radical retropubic prostatectomy after radiation therapy appears to be safe and effective treatment.
Prosthetic heart valves: which ones and why.

The type and to some extent the size of prosthesis are by far the most important factors determining the patient's prognosis. Extensive necropsy experience shows that in terms hemodynamics, thrombo...
Substrate-decoupled 3D micro-shell resonators

This paper reports on a theoretical and experimental study of substrate-decoupled three-dimensional micro-shell resonators made of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Design, fabrication and test results of a microscale SiO2 thin-film shallow shell resonator anchored through a hollow cylindrical post is presented. Virtual levitation of the resonator because of the hollow cylinder is explained and the results are discussed. A Q of 85,000 was measured at 10 kHz from a resonator with diameter of 900 μm and thickness of 1 μm.
Severity of complicated versus uncomplicated subthreshold depression: New evidence on the "Monotonicity Thesis" from the national comorbidity survey.

Abstract Background “Complicated” subthreshold depression (CsD) includes at least one of six pathosuggestive “complicated” symptoms: >6 months duration, marked role impairment, sense of worthlessness, suicidal ideation, psychotic ideation, and psychomotor retardation. “Uncomplicated” subthreshold depression (UsD) has no complicated features. Whereas studies show that complicated (CMDD) versus uncomplicated (UMDD) major depression differ substantially in severity and prognosis, UsD and CsD severity has not been previously compared. This study evaluates UsD and CsD pathology validator levels and examines whether the complicated/uncomplicated distinction offers incremental concurrent validity over the standard number-of-symptoms dimension as a depression severity measure. Methods Using nationally representative community data from the National Comorbidity Survey, seven depression lifetime history subgroups were identified: one MDD screener symptom (n=1432); UsD (n=430); CsD (n=611); UMDD (n=182); and CMDD with 5–6 symptoms (n=518), 7 symptoms (n=217), and 8–9 symptoms (n=291). Severity was evaluated using five concurrent pathology validators: suicide attempt, interference with life, help seeking, hospitalization, and generalized anxiety disorder. Results CsD validator levels are substantially higher than both UsD and UMDD levels, and similar to mild CMDD, disconfirming the “monotonicity thesis” that severity increase with symptom number. Complicated/uncomplicated status predicts severity, and when complicatedness is controlled, number of symptoms no longer predicts validator levels. Limitations Diagnoses were based on respondents’ fallible retrospective symptom reports during a lay-administered structured interview, which may not yield diagnoses comparable to clinicians’ assessments. Conclusion CsD is more severe than UsD and comparable to mild MDD. Complicated status more validly indicates depression severity than the standard number-of-symptoms measure.
"Continuing Threat" to Whom?:Risk Assessment in Virginia CapitalSentencing Hearings

University, June 2000. I thank Professor David Bruck for his insight and patience and the members of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, especially Maxwell Smith, my editor. I also thank Professor David Super for his invaluable guidance over the last year and, of course, my family for their constant support. 1. Eaton v. Commonwealth, 397 S.E.2d 385, 387, 390 (Va. 1990). 2. Id. at 398; see VA. CODE ANN. § 19.2-264.2 (Michie 2004) (setting forth Virginia’s statutory aggravating factors, one of which must be found by a capital jury beyond a reasonable doubt prior to the imposition of a sentence of death). 3. In November 1993 Eaton failed to enter his cell in a timely manner as instructed. Telephone interview with Ross S. Haines, counsel for Dennis Eaton (Mar. 2, 2005). 4. See infra notes 49–63, 118–20 and accompanying text (noting the actual prevalence of homicide and assaultive behavior in prison). 5. See infra notes 54–56 and accompanying text (discussing a Texas study in which capital jurors grossly over-estimated the likelihood that capital offenders would commit future acts of violence).
The Puzzling Lives of Euclid

According to a story told by the Roman antiquarian Aulus Gellius, Euclid of Megara exhibited a singular passion for philosophy. At the outset of the Peloponnesian War, Athens imposed sanctions against the nearby city of Megara and banned its citizens from entering Athens. Euclid, a student of Socrates, was distraught to be kept away from his master’s debates, and came up with a clever subterfuge: each night, under the cover of darkness, he crept into town dressed in women’s clothing and joined his fellow philosophers to hear their teacher’s discourses, leaving the city again before dawn.1
A prospective, open-label, non-comparative study of ambrisentan with anti-fibrotic agent combination therapy in the treatment of diffuse systemic sclerosis

Systemic Sclerosis is a multifactorial autoimmune rheumatic disease characterized by inflammation, fibrosis, immune dysregulation and vascular dysfunction. An open label, prospective, non-comparative study evaluating ambrisentan with an antifibrotic agent in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). Recruited 15 consecutive patients with dcSSc who were already on a stable dose of an antifibrotic agent and if they met inclusion criteria they were initiated on ambrisentan 5 mg/day for 12 months. Primary outcome measure was the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) while secondary measures were the short form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire, the Medsger severity score and pulmonary function studies. Fifteen patients were recruited and ten patients completed all 12 months of the study. An intention to treat was used to analyze the data. There was statistical improvement of the mean mRSS and the perceived change in health component of the SF-36. The Medsger severity score and pulmonary function studies remained unchanged over the course of the study. Patients who tolerated the combination of an antifibrotic with ambrisentan had an improvement of their mRSS over the course of the study as well as an improvement of their perceived health. Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01093885; March 2010.
Experimental Characterization of a Microchannel Heat Sink Made by Additive Manufacturing

Microchannel heat sinks allow removal of dense heat loads from high-power electronic devices at modest chip temperature rises. Such heat sinks are produced primarily using conventional subtractive machining techniques or anisotropic chemical etching, which restricts the geometric features that can be produced. Owing to their layer-by-layer and direct-write approaches, additive manufacturing (AM) technologies enable more design-driven fabrication and offer improved geometric freedom and complexity. There has been limited assessment of the capability of AM process to produce microchannel heat sinks that meet nominal geometry and performance targets, even for conventional designs. Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) was used to demonstrate additive manufacture of an aluminum alloy (AlSi10Mg) microchannel heat sink with straight, parallel channels (D H = 500 μm). The thermal and hydraulic performance of the heat sink was characterized over a range of mass fluxes from 500 kg/m2s to 2000 kg/m2s using water as the working fluid. The straight microchannel design allows these experimental results to be directly compared against established predictions from the literature. The comparison facilitates an assessment of the role of geometric or property differences introduced by the AM process (relative to conventional fabrication approaches) in realizing the nominal design. The insights gained from this evaluation, which offers an improved description of the fabrication constraints and sets expectations on fidelity to the design targets, will be used in ongoing work that explores heat sink designs exploiting the full range of geometric complexity made possible with additive manufacturing.
CHAPTER 5-2 – INTERNAL ROTATION AND EQUIVALENCE OF NUCLEI

Publisher Summary The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral consequences of internal rotation in ethanes follow in a reasonably straightforward manner from the theory of the time-dependent phenomena in NMR and symmetry considerations. This chapter describes a classification of two types of spectra: (1) the slow-rotation case that corresponds to a rate of internal rotation, which is slow on the NMR timescale and results in superimposition of the spectra of individual rotamers; and (2) the rapid-rotation case where the rate of internal rotation is fast on the NMT timescale and which gives an averaged spectrum. Both the slow-rotation and rapid-rotation cases refer to mixtures of the same types of conformers that are inter-converting at different rates.
Rents: How Marketing Causes Inequality (Chapter 1)

This working paper contains the introduction and first chapter of a forthcoming book on the relationship between marketing and inequality. I argue that the dramatic rise of income inequality since 1970 has largely been caused by advances in marketing. Marketers have become better at creating and exploiting market distortions in legal ways. The legal system, in principle, prevents the deliberate creation of market failures, but it has not evolved at the same speed. Business schools have outsmarted law schools. This chapter offers an introduction to a new, general theory of marketing. Although marketing is meant to improve markets by bringing products to the right customers, it often does the opposite—creating “value” to businesses by making prices less transparent, splitting informed and uninformed consumers, making products incomparable, locking in consumers, exploiting psychological biases, creating network externality effects, or preventing price wars. Over the time span 1970–2015, the impact of marketing on the economy has steadily increased. Few markets have not been turned into less competitive ones by marketers, trained at modern business schools. This has significantly increased the amount of artificial profits (“rents”) in the economy.
Weighted regularity and two problems of Sadullaev on weighted regularity

Regularity of a compact set is important in Pluripotential Theory, Approximation Theory, and in the study of separately analytic functions. Recently, in his paper Topics in Several Complex Variables, Contemporary Mathematics, vol. 662, pp. 145–156. American Mathematical Society, Providence, [16], Sadullaev introduced regularity notions in projective spaces, and weighted regularity notions in $${\mathbb {C}}^{n}$$ . In this paper, we discuss weighted regularity notions in Lelong classes and answer two open problems.
A Framework for Planning for High-Volume High-Acuity Traumatic Mass Casualty Incidents

Introduction:In response to the Pulse Nightclub and Las Vegas mass shootings, staff from our Emergency Department (ED) at University Medical Center New Orleans designed a mass casualty incident (MCI) protocol aimed at preparing the entire hospital for high-volume, high-acuity incidents of unprecedented proportions. As we researched this effort, we discovered that no publically available framework currently exists to assist hospitals with creating their own comprehensive, functional MCI protocol.Aim:To develop a framework to assist hospitals with creating MCI plans tailored to fit the needs of their individual facility.Methods:Our hospital spent several years creating and refining an MCI protocol that is both comprehensive in addressing each service’s needs and efficient for the staff expected to use it. Upon achieving the desired outcome of a well-functioning and tested protocol, the main contributors of the project met to create a consensus document on how we would approach the task with the benefit of hindsight.Results:Our document is meant to serve as a framework for hospitals looking to build their own plan. It is not a template, but rather a guide on how to build an individualized plan that includes critical components that are key for success. It breaks the process down into manageable steps that are presented in an order that maximizes efficiency and includes important points to consider for each step. It encourages the user to tailor the protocol to their own unique needs.Discussion:By sharing a framework based on our own best practices and lessons learned, we hope to make it easier for other hospitals to create MCI protocols and to open a dialogue with hospitals that have additional or differing opinions to share. Most importantly, we hope to inspire hospitals to work together as we race to prepare for worst-case scenarios of increasing magnitude.
Malware classification using fusion of neural networks

The modern-day Cyber field continues to be plagued with innumerable forms of malware that are created on a massive scale. The ever-changing nature of malware threats combined with the obfuscation techniques used by attackers creates the need for effective methods of malware classification. As of 2018, an average of one million new forms of malware are created world-wide each day, which raises the question of how to combat these attacks. While most antiviruses scan the integrity and composition of files in the system, we propose a new approach to Cyber Defense. As a replacement for standard file scans, we advocate the conversion of the malware binary into a grayscale image for classification and visualization. As discovered by previous research, different types of malware families tend to display similar characteristics and binary patterns between the various malware files in each family. Since there are similarities between the various files of malware in each family, the idea arose to augment these groups with synthetic data generated from a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). The idea of a constant stream of generated malware leads to the hypothesis that by adding synthetic data based on each family to each family the images are generated from will create a higher learning rate from the Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). Various architectures of the DCNN will be used as assessments that benchmark each architectures’ learning rate before and after the augmentation.
Regulated Versus Negotiated Access Pricing in Vertically Separated Railway Systems: Online Appendix

This paper studies access pricing under three regimes: regulated access (VSR), negotiated access with discriminatory pricing (VSD) and negotiated access with non-discriminatory pricing (VSN). We compare each regime along three metrics: network quality, consumer surplus, and social welfare. To do so, we use a three-stage game, in which the regulator can commit to the access tariff under VSR and the network firm and the transport operators need to bargain over the access tariff under VSD and VSN. Each approach is second best, resulting in equilibrium qualities and quantities that are less than first-best levels, and the comparison between regulated and negoitated access is ambiguous. However, under a wide range of circumstances VSD and VSN result in greater investment to upgrade network quality than VSR. Computational analysis reveals that if the bargaining power of the network firm under negotiated access is sufficiently strong, VSD tends to result in higher social welfare than VSR. However, VSR often results in higher consumer surplus.
Catalyst Evolution in Ruthenium-Catalyzed Coupling of Amines and Alcohols

We describe the mechanism, scope, and catalyst evolution for our ruthenium-based coupling of amines and alcohols, which proceeds from a [(η6-cymene)RuCl(PyCH2PtBu2)]OTf (1) precatalyst. The method ...
A sub-modular receding horizon approach to persistent monitoring for a group of mobile agents over an urban area

Abstract We consider the problem of persistent monitoring of a finite number of interconnected geographical nodes for event detection via a group of heterogeneous mobile agents. We assume that the probability of the events occurring at the geographical points of interest follow known Poisson processes. We tie a utility function to the probability of detecting an event in each point of interest and use it to incentivize the agents to visit the geographical nodes with higher probability of event occurrence. We show that the design of an optimal monitoring policy that specifies the sequence of the geographical nodes and time of visit of those nodes for each mobile agent so that the utility of event detection over a mission horizon is maximized is an NP-hard problem. To reduce the time complexity of constructing the feasible set of the optimal approach and also to induce robustness to changes in event occurrence and other operational factors, we consider a receding horizon approach. We note that, with the number of agents growing, the cost of finding the optimal path grows exponentially even with shortened horizon. To overcome this issue, we introduce a sub-modular optimization approach that has a polynomial time complexity and also comes with a known sub-optimality lower bound. We demonstrate our results through simulations.
Quantifying quality of 3D printed clay objects using a 3D structured light scanning system

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) printing, or additive manufacturing, has been increasingly used in many fields, including the medicine, food, sensing, metal, automotive, and construction industries. Regardless of its growing applications, there are few of methods, guidelines, and specifications for measuring and quantifying the qualities of 3D printed objects. This is particularly so for objects those are too small, too large, and/or too fragile to be handled manually. In this study, for the first time, a non-contact, and non-destructive measurement method, a 3D structured light scanning system (3D-SLSS), was employed for evaluating the printing qualities of clay objects with different levels of visual defects (e.g., roughness and distortion). 3D scanned images of these clay samples were developed using 3D-SLSS. Then, they were sliced along their sides (perpendicular to the base) to generate a number of two-dimensional (2D) plots, from which various parameters (e.g., sample total height [Htotal], outer diameter [DMouter], layer thickness [TL], layer width, [(WL], surface angle [Sα], semi-cross-sectional area [XA], and surface roughness [R]) were measured. These measurements were then compared with the designed values. The percentages of the differences between the measured and designed values were used to develop a diagnosed area of deficiency, by which the overall qualities of the printed samples were quantified. The results illustrated that all the printed samples exhibited certain differences between their measured and designed values, even for those that appeared well printed. Compared with the designed object, the printed samples generally had reduced total height, diameter, and layer thickness; increased layer width; measurable distortion; and visible surface roughness. Many of these were largely because the freshly printed clay deformed under the weight of the layers above. The distortion angle and area are two necessary parameters for quantifying the degree of distortion of a printed sample. The diagnosed area of deficiency can well describe the overall qualities of the printed samples. 3D-SLSS is a relatively simple, fast, and inexpensive characterization method. Moreover, it can be conveniently extended to various industries for quality control of diverse 3D printing products.
Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography to Diagnose Dislocated Shoulders: A Prospective Cohort.

Study objective Shoulder dislocations are a common injury leading to emergency department presentations. Point-of-care ultrasonography has the potential to reduce radiation and time to diagnosis. We determine the accuracy of a novel point-of-care ultrasonographic technique to diagnose dislocated shoulders. We also investigate its accuracy to detect fractures, time to image acquisition, the optimal cutoff for the glenohumeral distance, and compare the time to diagnose dislocations from triage between point-of-care ultrasonography and radiography. Methods This was a multicenter prospective observational study. Ultrasonography fellows and fellowship-trained physicians enrolled a convenience sample of patients with suspected shoulder dislocation. Point-of-care ultrasonography was performed with a novel posterior approach with either a curvilinear or a linear transducer. Shoulder dislocation was confirmed with a 3-view radiograph interpreted by an independent radiologist. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values were determined for point-of-care ultrasonography, with radiography as the criterion standard. Time to image acquisition, presence or absence of fracture, glenohumeral distance, sonographer confidence, and difference in time to diagnosis from triage for point-of-care ultrasonography and radiograph were also determined. A second investigator independently reviewed all images and interobserver agreement was calculated. Results Sixty-five patients were enrolled in the study. The sensitivity and specificity of point-of-care ultrasonography for identifying dislocations were 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] 87% to 100%) and 100% (95% CI 87% to 100%), respectively. Point-of-care ultrasonography was 92% sensitive (95% CI 60% to 99.6%) and 100% specific (95% CI 92% to 100%) for non–Hill-Sachs/Bankart’s fractures of the humerus. Point-of-care ultrasonography was faster from triage than standard radiology in diagnosing dislocations (median difference 43 minutes; interquartile range [IQR] 23 to 60 minutes). The median total time required for diagnosis by point-of-care ultrasonography was 19 seconds (IQR 10 to 36 seconds). The median glenohumeral distance was –1.83 cm (IQR –1.98 to –1.41 cm) in anterior dislocations, 0.22 cm (IQR 0.10 to 0.35 cm) on nondislocated shoulders, and 3.30 cm (IQR 2.59 to 4.00 cm) in posterior dislocations. Conclusion A posterior approach point-of-care ultrasonographic study is a quick and accurate tool to diagnose dislocated shoulders. Ultrasonography was also able to accurately identify humeral fractures and significantly reduce the time to diagnosis from triage compared with standard radiography.
Introducing English Linguistics

Introduction English Linguistics accomplishes this goal in two ways. Unlike traditional text, it takes a top-down approach to language, beginning with the largest unit of linguistic structure, the text, and working it way down through successively smaller structure.
Should interferons take front stage as an essential MS disease-modifying therapy in the era of coronavirus disease 2019?

In the unprecedented pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) along with a limited clinical understanding on effective vaccines and therapies, there are currently many unknowns for patients with autoimmune conditions, such as MS, who require ongoing treatment with immunotherapies. As information is currently lacking on the immune effects of COVID-19 in the context of MS disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), a challenging clinical question being faced by patients and neurologists is whether to continue current DMTs for patients with MS and risk potentially greater morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 infection vs discontinue DMT therapy and risk MS disease relapse. At this time, we desperately need data to guide which DMTs may best treat both COVID-19 and MS. The authors thank Dr. William Schwartz for critical reading of the manuscript.
Exact Multiple Sequence Alignment by Synchronized Decision Diagrams

This paper develops an exact solution algorithm for the multiple sequence alignment (MSA) problem. In the first step, we design a dynamic programming model and use it to construct a novel multivalu...
Silver telluride nanoparticles as biocompatible and enhanced contrast agents for X-ray imaging: an in vivo breast cancer screening study

Silver sulfide nanoparticles (Ag2S NPs) have gained considerable interest in the biomedical field due to their photothermal ablation enhancement, near-infrared fluorescence properties, low toxicity levels, and multi-imaging capabilities. Silver telluride nanoparticles (Ag2Te NPs) have similar properties to Ag2S NPs, should also be stable due to an extremely low solubility product and should generate greater X-ray contrast since tellurium is significantly more attenuating than sulfur at diagnostic X-ray energies. Despite these attractive properties, Ag2Te NPs have only been studied in vivo once and at a low dose (2 mg Ag per kg). Herein, for the first time, Ag2Te NPs' properties and their application in the biomedical field were studied in vivo in the setting requiring the highest nanoparticle doses of all biomedical applications, i.e. X-ray imaging. Ag2Te NPs were shown to be stable, biocompatible (no acute toxicity observed in the cell lines studied or in vivo), and generated higher contrast, compared to controls, in the two X-ray imaging techniques studied: computed tomography (CT) and dual-energy mammography (DEM). In summary, this is the first study where Ag2Te NPs were explored in vivo at a high dose. Our findings suggest that Ag2Te NPs provide strong X-ray contrast while exhibiting excellent biocompatibility. These results highlight the potential use of Ag2Te NPs in the biomedical field and as X-ray contrast agents for breast cancer screening.
Chapter 1 Resilience Algorithms in Complex Networks

Today’s complex systems are vulnerable to disruptions from natural, deliberate, and accidental events. The paper explores resilience of systems under disruptions due to disease events, fires, outages in the power grid, and damage to critical infrastructure, and describes algorithms for responding to a disruption that minimize the departure from a previous state.
Terms to Know and Videos to Help: Gender-identity, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Pronouns, Race, Intersectionality, Privilege, & Bias

The goal of the session is to help attendees who are committed to diversity and inclusion learn to talk about different dimensions of identity (e.g., race, class, gender, sex, sexuality, etc.). The landscape of terms is always changing and we want SIGCSE attendees to feel more comfortable using current language to talk about issues related to diversity and inclusion. This special session will include eight short videos, individual reflection, and a QA it was well received and we hope to offer it to the larger SIGCSE audience. The format also lends itself to attendees sharing the videos and discussions with their colleagues after SIGCSE, which are available at http://ncwit.org/intersectionality-videos
Integrated process-system modelling and control through graph neural network and reinforcement learning

Abstract Modern manufacturing systems are becoming increasingly complex, dynamic, and connected, and their performance is being affected by not only their constituent processes but also their system-level interactions. This paper presents an integrated modelling method based on a graph neural network (GNN) and multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) collaborative control for adjusting individual machining process parameters in response to system- and process-level conditions. The structural and operational dependencies among process machines are captured with a GNN. Iteratively trained with MARL, machines learn to adaptively control local process parameters, e.g., machining speed and depth of cut, while achieving the global goal of improving production yield.
Multi-omics driven predictions of response to acute phase combination antidepressant therapy: a machine learning approach with cross-trial replication.

Combination antidepressant pharmacotherapies are frequently used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there is no evidence that machine learning approaches combining multi-omics measures (e.g., genomics and plasma metabolomics) can achieve clinically meaningful predictions of outcomes to combination pharmacotherapy. This study examined data from 264 MDD outpatients treated with citalopram or escitalopram in the Mayo Clinic Pharmacogenomics Research Network Antidepressant Medication Pharmacogenomic Study (PGRN-AMPS) and 111 MDD outpatients treated with combination pharmacotherapies in the Combined Medications to Enhance Outcomes of Antidepressant Therapy (CO-MED) study to predict response to combination antidepressant therapies. To assess whether metabolomics with functionally validated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) improves predictability over metabolomics alone, models were trained/tested with and without SNPs. Models trained with PGRN-AMPS’ and CO-MED’s escitalopram/citalopram patients predicted response in CO-MED’s combination pharmacotherapy patients with accuracies of 76.6% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.85) without and 77.5% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.86) with SNPs. Then, models trained solely with PGRN-AMPS’ escitalopram/citalopram patients predicted response in CO-MED’s combination pharmacotherapy patients with accuracies of 75.3% (p < 0.05; AUC: 0.84) without and 77.5% (p < 0.01; AUC: 0.86) with SNPs, demonstrating cross-trial replication of predictions. Plasma hydroxylated sphingomyelins were prominent predictors of treatment outcomes. To explore the relationship between SNPs and hydroxylated sphingomyelins, we conducted multi-omics integration network analysis. Sphingomyelins clustered with SNPs and metabolites related to monoamine neurotransmission, suggesting a potential functional relationship. These results suggest that integrating specific metabolites and SNPs achieves accurate predictions of treatment response across classes of antidepressants. Finally, these results motivate functional investigation into how sphingomyelins might influence MDD pathophysiology, antidepressant response, or both.
The Use of Arbitration in Cuba: International Solutions for the Resolution of Local Problems

Arbitration is an institution that has experienced little development in Latin America. One exception is Cuba, where arbitration proceedings are frequently utilized. This is principally due to the influence of Soviet law,1 which the Cuban system closely parallels. Without discussing politics, it is worthwhile analyzing how arbitration is structured in Cuba, what the results have been, and whether other Latin American countries might benefit in part from the Cuban experience.
The effectiveness of self-management interventions for children with autism - A literature review

Abstract In 2009 the National Autism Center published its initial National Standards Project (NSP) report detailing a list of existing treatments for individuals with autism. Recently, the report was updated and was made available to the public in April 2015. The 2015 report divided treatments into three categories: established, emerging, and unestablished. Among the 11 treatments identified as established, self-management interventions for children with autism were included. Although self-management was found to be effective, the NSP did not evaluate the extent to which this treatment has been studied in natural settings versus clinical/laboratory and mixed settings, nor the social validity of the treatments. Having knowledge on the effectiveness of a treatment in the natural setting and its social validity can assist teachers and parents in making better decisions regarding the adoption of a treatment. The purpose of this review is to extend the NSP report by evaluating the social validity of self-management interventions for individuals with autism, evaluate the extent to which these interventions have been conducted in the natural setting (as opposed to a clinical setting), and to provide a second evaluation of the methodological quality of these studies. Results of this review suggest that, self-management interventions for children with autism are effective in natural, clinical, and mixed settings. However, few studies have provided a formal evaluation of social validity. There are also some limitations to the methodological quality of the studies that should be considered for future research.
Management of Adrenal Tumors in Pregnancy

Adrenal diseases, including Cushing syndrome (CS), primary aldosteronism (PA), pheochromocytoma, and adrenocortical carcinoma, are uncommon in pregnancy; a high degree of clinical suspicion must exist. Physiologic changes to the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in a normal pregnancy result in increased cortisol, renin, and aldosterone levels, making the diagnosis of CS and PA in pregnancy challenging. However, catecholamines are not altered in pregnancy and allow a laboratory diagnosis of pheochromocytoma that is similar to that of the nonpregnant state. Although adrenal tumors in pregnancy result in significant maternal and fetal morbidity, and sometimes mortality, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment often improve outcomes.
A commonsense theory of nonmonotonic reasoning

A commonsense theory of nonmonotonic reasoning is presented which models our intuitive ability to reason about defaults. The concepts of this theory do not involve mathematical fixed points, but instead are explicitly defined in a monotonic modal quantificational logic which captures the modal notion of logical truth. The axioms and inference rules of this modal logic are described herein along with some basic theorems about nonmonotonic reasoning. An application to solving the frame problem in robot plan formation is presented.
Floraculture and the Sensorium

TACK GOODYS LATEST OFFERING, The Culture of Flowers, is a delight. A study of the symbolic import of flowers in different cultures, it commences, properly enough, with a conundrum: "Why do Africans have so little interest in the culture of flowers, particularly as compared with Europeans and Asians, for whom flowers figure so importantly in commerce, symbolic representation and aesthetic sensibility?" Goody's answer, developed in great detail in this large and wonderfully illustrated book, hinges on the double sense of that word "culture." He reminds us that it can mean both that peculiar thing anthropologists are always trying to "figure out" and the activities surrounding the cultivation of domestic plants and all the processes involved in their transformation from natural or wild plants into objects of use, desire, enjoyment, and prestation. Comparative floraculture, however, makes only part of his story, for he is also concerned with the representation of flowers as symbolic forms in a wide range of media, including the written texts that have configured both the culture of flowers and the cultures of flowers. We might put the question another way: "Why do some peoples develop sensuous sensibilities for such non-utilitarian plants that, no matter how wondrously colorful and fragrant, are doomed too soon to fade and die?" Goody first outlines the Near Eastern idea of the garden, with its associated meaning of paradise, and traces its diffusion and development in the ancient world as "pleasure grounds," places of both retreat and ostentatious display for priests and kings. The spread of gardens to Greece and Rome secularized them and made them emblems of luxury for the wealthy. Flowers were also desacralized in discursive texts describing their properties and methods of cultivation. Flowers became objects of commerce in the form of garlands used as decorative offerings to deities or as crowns worn in celebrations and rituals. In time, garlands came to replace blood sacrifice and were offered as substitutes for animals. In Rome flowers ultimately came to be regarded with ambivalence, not just because they were luxury objects, but because their increasingly widespread cultivation took too much arable land out of food production and because their use in ritual as substitutes for blood came to symbolize the decay of manliness and martial spirit.
Pathogenic Bacterial Sensors Based on Carbohydrates as Sensing Elements

Protein–carbohydrate interactions are involved in a wide variety of cellular recognition processes including cell growth regulation, differentiation, adhesion, cancer cell metastasis, cellular trafficking, the immune response, and viral or bacterial infections. These specific interactions occur through glycoproteins, glycolipids, polysaccharides found on cell surfaces, and proteins with carbohydrate-binding domains called lectins through cooperative multiple interactions since it is known that individual carbohydrate–protein interactions are generally weak. A common way for bacteria to accomplish adhesion is through their cellular lectins, also called fimbriae or pili, which bind to complementary carbohydrates on the surface of the host tissues. Lectin-deficient mutant bacteria often fail to initiate infection. Carbohydrate-based detection of bacterial pathogens presents an exciting alternative to standard methods for screening and detecting bacterial targets in food industry, water and environment quality control, and clinical diagnosis. Conjugated fluorescent glycopolymers such as conjugated glycopoly(p-phenylene-ethynylene)s, glycopolythiophenes, glycopoly(p-phenylene)s, and carbohydrate-bearing polydiacetylenes have been prepared for quick detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) through cooperative multivalent interactions between the polymeric carbohydrates and the bacterial pili because they combine fluorescent scaffolding and carbohydrate reporting functions into one package and possess intrinsic fluorescence and high sensitivity to minor external stimuli. Glyconanoparticles and galactose-functionalized carbon nanotubes (Gal-SWNTs) have been used as three-dimensional systems to study their specific multivalent interactions with E. coli. In addition, Gal-SWNTs have also been employed to detect Bacillus anthracis spores through divalent cation-mediated multivalent carbohydrate–carbohydrate interactions. Carbohydrate microarrays combine the benefits of immobilized format assays with the capability of detecting thousands of analytes simultaneously and can offer a general and powerful platform for whole-cell applications because their multivalent display of carbohydrates can mimic multivalent interactions at cell–cell interfaces. A simple but very effective diagnostic carbohydrate microarray has been reported for the quick detection of E. coli in complex biological mixtures with detection limit of 105–106 cells. Wang et al. reported another direct and unique approach to detect pathogenic bacteria by using a carbohydrate microarray of 48 carbohydrate-containing antigenic macromolecules for recognition of carbohydrate-binding antibodies from 20 human serum specimens.
The effect of pH on the in vitro degradation of poly(glycolide lactide) copolymer absorbable sutures

The pH effect on the hydrolytic degradation of Polyglactin 910 copolymer was studied in terms of the tensile properties of the suture specimens. The use of a cord/yarn grip, newly designed specifically for fibrous materials, eliminated the grip-induced failure. Different degrees of hydrolytic degradation of this copolymer at 3 different pH levels were observed. The suture specimens exhibited the best retentions of breaking strength at the physiological pH of 7.44, while the specimens at pH = 10.09 showed the fastest loss of breaking strength. Thus, a maximum retention of tensile properties occurred around the pH level of 7.0, whereas smaller percentages of retention of tensile properties were observed at both acidic and strong alkaline solutions. This synthetic absorbable suture material exhibits the basic characteristic of hydrolysis which is catalyzed by both acid and base.
Congestive Heart Failure: Potential Role of Arginine Vasopressin Antagonists in the Therapy of Heart Failure

Neurohormonal imbalances clearly contribute to the pathophysiology of chronic congestive heart failure. Agents that interfere with the generation or effects of angiotensin II and aldosterone, or which block the effects of excess sympathetic drive, all favorably affect mortality. Arginine vasopressin, through its V(1A) and V(2) receptor-mediated effects, could theoretically also contribute to progression of left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure by aggravating systolic and diastolic wall stress, and by directly stimulating myocardial hypertrophy. Arginine vasopressin levels are increased in congestive heart failure patients; acutely, both V(1A) and V(2) antagonists produce beneficial hemodynamic responses in both clinical and experimental congestive heart failure. Experimental studies also indicate beneficial effects of V(1A) and V(2) antagonists (alone or in combination) on hemodynamics and possibly ventricular remodeling after myocardial injury. Currently, there are no long-term studies of any type of arginine vasopressin antagonist in human heart failure, but both the theoretical rationale and preclinical data would appear to justify such efforts.
Daunorubicin accumulation by human myeloblasts varying in anthracycline resistance

Circulating myeloblasts were obtained from patients with acute myelogenous leukemias varying widely in anthracycline responsiveness. Studies were carried out in vitro to assess the capacity of such cells for daunorubicin accumulation. There was no correlation between drug responsiveness patterns in vivo vs. drug transport phenomena measured in vitro. A mode of enhanced anthracycline exodus demonstrable in certain drug-resistant murine leukemia cell lines could not be detected in the drug-resistant human myeloblasts.
Ligand Exchange Reactions and Hydroamination with Tris(oxazolinyl)borato Yttrium Compounds

Ligand substitution reactions and catalytic hydroamination/cyclization of aminoalkenes have been studied with a new oxazolinylborato yttrium compound, tris(4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolinyl)phenylborato bis(trimethylsilylmethyl)yttrium ([Y(κ3-ToM)(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)], 1). THF exchange in 1 is rapid at room temperature, and activation parameters obtained by simulation of 1H NMR spectra acquired from 190 to 280 K are consistent with a dissociative mechanism (ΔS‡ = 30 ± 1 e.u., ΔG‡ = 11.9 kcal mol−1 at 243 K). The related phosphine oxide adduct [Y(κ3-ToM)(CH2SiMe3)2(OPPh3)] (2) also undergoes exchange via OPPh3 dissociation with a much higher barrier (ΔG‡ = 15.0 kcal mol−1 at 320 K). Compound 1 reacts with the amines tBuNH2, para-MeC6H4NH2, and 2,6-iPr2C6H3NH2 to provide six-coordinate [Y(κ3-ToM)(NHR)2(THF)] (3: R = tBu; 4: R = para-MeC6H4) and five-coordinate [Y(κ3-ToM)(NH-2,6-iPr2C6H3)2] (6). These oxazolinylborato yttrium compounds are precatalysts for the cyclization of aminoalkenes; the kinetics of catalytic conve...
Alginate films as macromolecular imprinted matrices.

Macromolecularly imprinted polymers have been developed to mimic the non-covalent interactions driving molecular recognition in nature. The creation of an engineered antibody mimic would allow for the development of customizable films for biomolecular sensing. To demonstrate this principle, a cross-linked alginate film has been imprinted with bovine serum albumin (BSA) using aqueous biocompatible gelation methods. The imprinting efficiency of the synthesized films imprinted with BSA was determined and compared to the non-specific uptake of complementary proteins which were not imprinted in the alginate matrix. It was found that the recognition of the BSA using an alginate film was 6.4 mg/g polymer, which compares favorably to previously reported macromolecularly imprinted networks. The absorption of non-imprinted cationic proteins by the alginate matrix demonstrates that overcoming non-specific binding needs to be a focus of future work in order to successfully employ these materials towards biomolecular ...
Thermally reactive liquid crystalline copolymers based on 11-[(4-cyano-4′-biphenyl)oxy]undecanyl vinyl ether and 2-vinyloxyethyloxy methacrylate

Living cationic copolymerization of 11-[(4-cyano-4′-biphenyl)oxy]undecanyl vinyl ether (6-11) with 2-vinyloxyethyloxy methacrylate (16-2) leads to reactive copolymers poly[(6-11)-co-(16-2)]X/Y (where X/Y is the mol ratio between the two monomers in copolymer) containing methacryloyl side groups. Upon thermal crosslinking via the polymerization of their methacryloyl side groups, the copolymers with X/Y=5/5 to 9/1 lead to liquid crystalline networks displaying a SA mesophase. These results have demonstrated that a shorter spacer in the reactive bifunctional monomer 16-2 than in the mesogenic 6-11 monomer leads to networks with broader range of mesomorphism than those derived from a reactive monomer containing a spacer length equal to that of the mesogenic monomer.
Evoked potential conditioning using morphine as the unconditioned stimulus in rats.

Abstract It is believed that conditioning processes play an important role in the development of narcotic dependence and may be particularly responsible for relapse after treatment. In addition, it was suggested that this conditioning is reflected by altered neural responses to stimuli which were associated with drug administration. To test these hypotheses, evoked potentials were recorded from four regions of rats' brains during a differential classical conditioning procedure. The conditioned and unconditioned effects of morphine on neural responses in each of these regions were studied during both addiction and withdrawal. The conditioning procedure resulted in alterations in the cortical response to the stimulus which was associated with morphine, but no alterations occurred in the response to the differential stimulus. Furthermore, the conditioned cortical response was found to persist after withdrawal from morphine. However, possibly due to state-dependency effects, the conditioned response was expressed only when the subjects were morphine intoxicated. Thus, the conditioned neural response found in this experiment did not reflect the processes postulated to lead to relapse of drug-free addicts.