cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular Mechanism of Endotoxin Unresponsiveness in C3H/HeJ Mice

B cells from C3H/HeJ mice fail to respond to an endotoxin (LPS K235) which is mitogenic for normal mice including the closely related C3H/HeN strain. The cellular basis for this unresponsive state has been investigated. The C3H/HeJ mice have normal numbers of B cells, which are capable of normal responses to other B cell mitogens, such as polyinosinic acid (Poly I). Addition of normal macrophages or spleen cells fails to reconstitute the normal response. Furthermore, neither macrophages nor spleen cells from the C3H/HeJ strain suppress the normal C3H/HeN spleen cells. Finally, spleen cells enriched for B cells by the removal of macrophages or T cells demonstrate the same differences in responsiveness to LPS. These results indicate that LPS unresponsiveness is a defect of the B cell itself and not due to suppressor cells or the absence of helper cells. When LPS is added to Poly I-stimulated cultures, there is additional enhancement of the response of normal C3H/HeN spleen cells. However, LPS causes a dose-dependent suppression of the Poly I response of C3H/HeJ spleen cells. This suppression is dependent on the time of addition of LPS to the Poly I-stimulated cultures. These data are interpreted as indicating that the binding of LPS to the membrane of C3H/HeJ B cells results in their inactivation or suppression, and that this is the basis of LPS unresponsiveness in this mouse strain.
Local quality assessment for optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive tool for visualizing the retina. It is increasingly used to diagnose eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic maculopa- thy. However, diagnosis is only possible when the layers of the retina can be easily distinguished, which is when the images are evenly illuminated. Automated OCT quality assessment (i.e. signal strength) is only available for images as a whole. In this work, we present an automated method for local quality assessment. For training data, three OCT experts label the quality of each individual a-scan line in 270 OCT images. We extract features that are insensitive to pathology, and employ a hierarchy of support vector machines and histogram-based metrics. Our trained classifier is able to determine not only when signal strength is low, but also when it will affect doctors' diagnostic ability. Our results improve over the state of the art in OCT quality assessment.
Elucidation of a downstream boundary of the 3' IgH regulatory region.

Abstract Class switch recombination (CSR) changes the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) constant region gene (CH) in B cells from IgM to IgG, IgA, or IgE, without modifying the variable region gene segment. This process requires transcription through switch (S) regions located upstream of the CH genes targeted for CSR, a process that relies on the activity of an uncharacterized regulatory region at the 3′ end of the CH locus (3′ IgH RR) that has been implicated via the effects of pgk-neo cassettes inserted into the locus. The 30 kb region just downstream of the most 3′ CH gene (Ca) contains four known enhancer elements including HS3a, HS1,2, HS3b, and HS4. Replacement of either of the proximal two enhancer elements (HS3a or HS1,2) with a pgk-neo gene cassette disrupted germline transcription of and CSR to most CH genes. However, replacement of either of the enhancers with a loxP sequence had no effect on CSR indicating that these elements are not critical for CSR. Insertion of a pgk-neo cassette at various sites within the CH locus inhibited CSR to upstream, but not downstream CH genes, supporting the notion that the pgk-neo cassette insertion into the locus short-circuits the ability of the 3′ RR to facilitate CSR of dependent CH genes upstream of the insertion. These analyses also indicated that the key elements of the 3′ IgH RR were downstream from HS1,2. In this study, we have sought to localize the 3′ IgH RR by defining its 3′ boundary. For this purpose, a pgk-neo gene cassette was targeted 2 kb downstream of the HS4 element in ES cells that had normal ability to undergo CSR. We then employed Rag-2 deficient blastocyst complementation to generate chimeric mice that harbored B cells homozygous for this mutation. Such chimeras exhibited normal reconstitution of the splenic compartment and had normal serum immunoglobulin levels. Upon in vitro activation, transcription from the pgk-neo cassette was induced in B cells, however, CSR to all measured IgH isotypes occurred at normal levels. These findings, coupled with previous pgk-neo insertion studies, suggest that key elements of the 3′ IgH RR lie within a 17 kb region between HS1,2 and 2 kb downstream of HS4.
Why Deep Carbon

All chemical elements are special, but some are more special than others. Of the 88 naturally occurring, long-lived elements on Earth, carbon stands alone. As the basis of all biomolecules, no other element contributes so centrally to the wellbeing and sustainability of life on Earth, including our human species. The near-surface carbon cycle profoundly affects Earth’s changeable climate, the health of ecosystems, the availability of inexpensive energy, and the resilience of the environment. No other element plays a role in so diverse an array of useful solid, liquid, and gaseous materials: food and fuels; paints and dyes; paper and plastics; abrasives and lubricants; electrical conductors and insulators; thermal conductors and insulators; ultra-strong structural materials and ultra-soft textiles; and precious stones of unmatched beauty. No other element engages in such an extraordinary range of chemical bonding environments: with oxidation states ranging from −4 to +4, carbon bonds to itself and more than 80 other elements. Carbon’s chemical behavior in Earth’s hidden deep interior epitomizes the dynamic processes that set apart our planet from all other known worlds. Past consideration of the global carbon cycle has focused primarily on the atmosphere, oceans, and shallow crustal environments. A tremendous amount is known about these parts of Earth’s carbon cycle. By contrast, relatively little is known about the deep carbon cycle (Fig. 1). Knowledge of the deep interior, which may contain more than 90% of Earth’s carbon (Javoy 1997), is limited (Table 1). Basic questions about deep carbon are poorly constrained:
Quality-reliability chain modeling for system-reliability analysis of complex manufacturing processes

System reliability of a manufacturing process should address effects of both the manufacturing system (MS) component reliability, and the product quality. In a multi-station manufacturing process (MMP), the degradation of MS components at an upstream station can cause the deterioration of the downstream product quality. At the same time, the system component reliability can be affected by the deterioration of the incoming product quality of upstream stations. This kind of quality & reliability interaction characteristics can be observed in many manufacturing processes such as machining, assembly, and stamping. However, there is no available model to describe this complex relationship between product quality, and MS component reliability. This paper, considering the unique complex characteristics of MMP, proposes a new concept of quality & reliability chain (QR-Chain) effect to describe the complex propagation relationship of the interaction between MS component reliability, and product quality across all stations. Based on this, a general QR-chain model for MMP is proposed to integrate the product quality with the MS component reliability information for system reliability analysis. For evaluation of system reliability, both the exact analytic solution, and a simpler upper bound solution are provided. The upper bound is proved to be equal to the exact solution if the product quality does not have self-improvement, which is generally true in many MMP. Therefore, the developed QR-chain model, and its upper bound solution can be applied to many MMP.
Mitotic behaviour of the buccal mucosal epithelium in psoriasis.

SUMMARY.— The mitotic activity of the uninvolved skin and buccal mucosa of patients with active psoriasis was investigated, using in vitro labelling with tritiated thymidine. The number of synthesizing DNA cells in these patients was significantly higher than in normal controls. The estimated turnover time of the normal buccal mucosa was found to be 5–8 days.
The Diabetes Educator and the Diabetes Self-management Education Engagement: The 2015 National Practice Survey

PurposeThe National Practice Study (NPS) is conducted biannually to assess current diabetes education practices in the United States with the goal of understanding current trends in the work in which diabetes educators engage.MethodsThe 2015 NPS contained 54 questions about the individuals providing diabetes education, people with diabetes participating in education, and programs providing the education. The survey was sent electronically to approximately 21 975 people who were members of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) or who were Certified Diabetes Educators with the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators but were not currently AADE members. In addition, both the AADE and the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators promoted participation in the NPS via social media. The combination of efforts resulted in completion of the survey by 4855 respondents. Testing was completed with a significance level of 0.05 or 95% confidence.ResultsDiabetes educators continue ...
Comparisons of Crystalline Silicotitanate and Resorcinol Formaldehyde Media for Cesium Removal by In-tank Column Processing

Chemical and thermal performance of crystalline silicotitanate (CST) and resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) ion exchange media were predicted for column configurations designed for installation in high level waste tanks and intended for cesium removal from radioactive waste supernates. Modeling predictions for the processing of a known Savannah River Site tank waste composition were generated. In a two column configuration under presumed nominal operating conditions (432 gallon packed bed, 10 gpm liquid flow, 25 C, 45 nCi/g average breakthrough limit) with lead/lag column rotation between processing cycles, approximately two cycles were predicted to treat 1,000,000 gallons of radioactive waste with CST as compared to three cycles predicted for RF. However, this processing mode was shown to be highly unfavorable for RF due to the fact that the lead column is unnecessarily exposed to large radiation doses during movement of the cesium mass transfer zone into the lag column. Thermal modeling calculations indicated that maximum temperatures within stagnant, packed CST and RF columns containing the highest anticipated cesium loading and no active cooling will reach 128 and 78 C, respectively, within 6 days. Active cooling maintains the cesium-saturated CST and RF columns below 88 and 41 C, respectively, under stagnant flow conditions.
Acute and Chronic Dissociation and Somatized Anxiety as Related to Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Abstract Minimal research has been done to determine if a relationship exists between dissociative patterns and somatized anxiety found in psychological disorders and various childhood sexual abuse variables. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if there was any relationship between the effects of any one of four variables–1) identity of perpetrator, 2) frequency and 3) duration of abuse experiences, and 4) severity of sexual abuse–and survivor symptomatology of acute dissociation, chronic dissociation, and somatized anxiety. Data from a sample of 226 respondents showed that severity of the sexual abuse experience was positively correlated with acute and chronic dissociation and somatized anxiety. Implications of these findings are explored, including clinical issues and recommendations for future research.
Directed Budget-Based Clustering for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks are typically bound to operate autonomously on a field, under severe energy con straints and without any centralized control. It is thus essential to develop self organization protocols/algorithms which enable the autonomous, distributed and energy efficient network self organization. Budget based clustering approaches have recently been proposed for this purpose, by specifying rules for distribut ing a given budget of tokens to neighbors. In this paper, two strictly localized, budget based clustering algorithms are proposed: the Directed Budget Based (DBB) and Directed Budget Based with Random Delays (DBB RD). The basic, innovative idea is to utilize clustering status information that can be readily available (e.g. through the HELLO exchanges) to reduce or eliminate token distribution contentions (both intra and inter cluster) that severely limit the effectiveness of earlier budget based approaches. Simulation results are presented demonstrating a substantial improvement over the earlier approaches with respect to the achieved clustersizes and time to complete network decomposition.
Early Management of Severe Sepsis Concepts and Controversies

Sepsis is among the most common reasons for admission to ICUs throughout the world, and it is believed to be the third most common cause of death in the United States. The pathogenetic mechanism and physiologic changes associated with sepsis are exceedingly complex, but our understanding is evolving rapidly. The major pathophysiologic changes in patients with septic shock include vasoplegic shock (distributive shock), myocardial depression, altered microvascular flow, and a diffuse endothelial injury. These pathophysiologic changes play a central role in the management of sepsis. The early management of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock centers on the administration of antibiotics, IV fluids, and vasoactive agents, followed by source control. However, the specific approach to the resuscitation of patients with septic shock remains highly controversial. This review provides a practical and physiologic-based approach to the early management of sepsis and explores the controversies surrounding the management of this complex condition.
Time course of femoral neck osteopenia in ovariectomized rats.

Abstract To characterize osteopenic changes in the femoral neck of ovariectomized (ovx) rats, female Sprague-Dawley rats were ovx or sham operated upon at 3 months of age and killed at various times from 0 to 360 days postsurgery. Quantitative bone histomorphometry was performed on undecalcified longitudinal sections of the proximal femur from each rat. This skeletal site was found to be slowly growing, as its rate of longitudinal bone growth in 3-month-old baseline control rats (5 μm/day) was nearly a factor of 10 less than that of a more commonly used sample site, the proximal tibia. In control rats, cancellous bone volume and cortical bone width of the femoral neck remained relatively constant, but cancellous mineral apposition rate declined with age during the course of the study. In contrast, cancellous bone volume in ovx rats was significantly decreased to 75%–82% of control level at 30–90 days and further decreased to 50%–56% of control level at later times postovariectomy. Indices of cancellous bone turnover such as osteoclast and osteoblast surfaces and bone formation rate were markedly increased in ovx rats at 30 days, declined toward control levels by 90 days, then increased moderately at 180–360 days. In comparison to control rats, a slight decrease in cortical width of the femoral neck was observed in ovx rats at 180 days and reached statistical significance at 360 days postovariectomy. Endocortical bone formation rate was increased significantly in ovx rats compared with control rats at most time points. The results indicate that both cancellous and cortical osteopenia associated with high bone turnover occur in the femoral neck of ovx rats. Cancellous bone loss at this skeletal site is statistically significant as early as 30 days postovariectomy, but remains relatively moderate for the first 90 days before becoming more pronounced at later times after ovariectomy. In contrast, cortical osteopenia was not observed in the femoral neck of ovx rats until 1 year postovariectomy. This histomorphometric characterization of osteopenic changes in the femoral neck of ovx rats may serve as a basis for use of this slowly growing sample site in preclinical studies of the prevention and treatment of bone loss in the estrogen-depleted skeleton.
Module allocation of real-time applications to distributed systems

An allocation model for mapping a real-time application to certain k-processor multiprocessor systems is developed and analyzed. Its objective is minimizing the total processing time of the application by exploiting the parallelism of the application-architecture pair. The model is formulated in terms of the performance characteristics of the system and the resource requirements of the computation involved. Experience with the model suggests that it can be used effectively for the performance evaluation of application-distributed system pairs. >
Legal Issues, Judicial Analysis, And Domicile Planning To Avoid State Inheritance Tax Using Tennessee

This paper examines the pitfalls and planning opportunities for taxpayers attempting to change domicile from our case study state, Tennessee, to avoid Tennessee inheritance tax to a state that doesnt have such taxes. Various court cases and state tax authority will be examined in order to synthesize the issues and formulate some general guidelines to assist taxpayers and their advisors in successfully using a change of domicile as a tool in state estate tax planning. A leading New Jersey case will be examined as an example of the consequences of unsuccessful state domicile planning causing the taxpayer to be subject to state inheritance tax in multiple states.
Iowa Wavering on Medicaid: From Expansion to Modernization

Iowa is one of six states to expand Medicaid through section 1115 waivers. Iowa's alternative approach to Medicaid expansion, known as the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, was the result of a bipartisan compromise, motivated by the pending expiration of a preexisting section 1115 waiver that served sixty-five thousand Iowans. The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan emphasizes personal responsibility and private involvement. Key features include beneficiary premiums, incentives for healthy behaviors, and premium assistance for some beneficiaries to purchase insurance in the health insurance marketplace. However, Iowa has struggled to implement its expansion as initially envisioned, due largely to the lack of private insurers willing and able to insure new Medicaid enrollees in the marketplace. In 2016 Iowa will dramatically increase the role of managed care in Medicaid, with the vast majority of beneficiaries receiving almost all Medicaid services through a capitated managed care organization. This article highlights the local factors driving expansion, the interplay of the state and federal political landscape, the challenges of providing consumer choice within Iowa's marketplace, and the future of Iowa's Medicaid program under managed care.
Preliminary Paper on the Wing-Venation of the Hemiptera (Heteroptera)

Although a great amount of work has been done on the wings of insects, very little attention seems to have been given to the wing-venation of the Heteroptera.
Copper metabolism. XXVIII. Influence of biliary duct ligation on serum and tissue copper.

SummaryLigation of the bile ducts of adult male rats was followed by hypercupremia and deposition of copper in liver and kidneys, but not in the brain.
The Pertinence of Political History: Reflections on the Significance of the State in America

When someone tells you, as I am about to tell you, that the historian's next frontier is political history, there would appear to be only one sensible response: You have got to be kidding. For if there is one lesson we have surely been taught over the past generation, it is that political history is outmoded, epiphenomenal, "mired in the superficial and the transitory."' In the introduction to his indispensable survey, The Past before Us, Michael Kammen has written: "It seems fair to say that political history is no longer the focal point for historical scholarship."2 And Paul Goodman has pointed out: "In its recent assessment of the prospects and achievements of American history, Reviews in American History published no essay on the field of political history, an omission that probably escaped the notice of many readers, or if it did not, went unlamented."3 No one summed up the situation better than Peter H. Smith at the beginning of this decade: "The new concern is with the daily lives of ordinary people, a trend that offers a clear prognostication for political history in the 1980s: there will not be much of it."4 Dissatisfaction with traditional chronicle is not new-after all, Ambrose Bierce long ago characterized history as "an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly
Research on the Choice of Wavelet Bases in Wavelet Image Compression Coding

Some of the properties of the wavelet bases affect the quality of the image coding when wavelet transform is applied to image compression.The impact which the characteristics of wavelet bases function result in the image coding is analyzed and a new method for selecting biorthogonal wavelet bases for image coding is proposed.The evaluation criteria of wavelet bases and the choice of wavelet bases in wavelet image compression coding are studied through experimentation.
The More You Talk, the Worse It Is Student Perceptions of Law and Authority in Schools

Prior works have established the association between students’ perceptions of school discipline and both behavioral and academic outcomes. The interplay between disciplinary fairness and students’ ...
Experimental observation of disinfection,sterilization,and corrosion properties of glutaraldehyde disinfectant

Objective To understand disinfection,sterilization,and corrosion properties of glutaraldehyde disinfectant.Methods Suspension quantitative germicidal test and carrier immersion qualitative germicidal test,field testing of medical equipment,stability test and metal corrosion test were used.Results The results showed that the killing logarithm value of spores of bacillus subtilis exposed to the solution containing glutaraldehyde 20g/L for 30min was5.00,and spores of bacillus subtilis polluted on hemostatic forceps were completely killed after exposure for 5h.The killing logarithm value of spores of Bacillus subtilis polluted on hemostatic forceps,tweezers and scissors exposed to the solution containing glutaraldehyde 20g/L for 14 days(30min/day) was3.00.There was no corrosion found on the stainless steel,carbon steel,copper,and aluminium after exposure to the solution containing glutaraldehyde 20g/L for 72h.Conclusion Glutaraldehyde disinfectant is very effective in killing bacterial spores,and it can be used as both an efficient disinfectant and a sterilizing agent.However,its corrosion property is relatively low.
Antipoverty Programs (US)

This entry comprises a historical review of antipoverty programs in the United States from informal assistance programs during colonial times through the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This review demonstrates how US conceptions of poverty and antipoverty programs have evolved over time. Throughout US history, those responsible for designing and implementing income assistance programs have grappled with a series of basic questions about who should be considered poor and what types of assistance should be provided to persons living in poverty. As the nation's population grew, these questions moved from the purview of extended families to local governments and private charities and, finally, to the federal government. Answers to these questions have been influenced by macro trends (e.g., economic recessions, immigration, and processes of industrialization) and by the perceptions of those responsible for creating and implementing policy about who is “worthy” or “deserving” of aid. Keywords: government; income distribution; inequality; policy; poverty
China through the Yuan

Gunpowder and the gun were invented in China. And while knowledge of the former may have come about accidentally, the latter was unequivocally a weapon of war. The gun was created to kill people through an intentional exploitation of the properties of gunpowder. Of course, the gun was not the first or only weapon the Chinese invented to employ gunpowder for violent and destructive ends. A broad range of rockets, flamethrowers, grenades, smoke bombs, poison gas bombs, mines, and incendiary devices were also produced, demonstrating the ample resources in human ingenuity and materials expended in the interests of war. There was steady progress in the development of gunpowder weapons, with many new devices quickly applied on the battlefield. While in the eleventh century the Song dynasty had an established gunpowder-manufacturing bureau, and gunpowder weapons were included in a government-produced military manual, by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries gunpowder weapons were standard devices in sieges, battles, and naval combat. The true gun itself appeared in the mid-thirteenth century. To the extent that gunpowder weapons played prominent, if not often decisive, roles in many twelfth- and thirteenth-century battles, there was a revolution in warfare even before the invention of the gun. The Complete Essentials from the Military Classics ( Wujing Zongyao ), finished in 1044, which currently ranks as the first text directly to describe the formula for gunpowder, was not, however, a pamphlet on new military devices and techniques; it was a compendium of all military knowledge up to that time.
Emerging Developments Using Nitrogen–Heteroatom Bonds as Amination Reagents in the Synthesis of Aminoarenes

Aminoarenes constitute valuable building blocks in organic synthesis and an essential skeleton ubiquitously found in ligands, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. This Synopsis presents recent amination methods using nitrogen–heteroatom bonds as a powerful and versatile platform to rapidly synthesize diverse aminoarenes, with a focus on aryne amino functionalization and transition-metal-catalyzed arene C–H amination.
Hepatic encephalopathy: what the multidisciplinary team can do

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a complex disease requiring a multidisciplinary approach among specialists, primary care team, family, and caregivers. HE is currently a diagnosis of exclusion, requiring an extensive workup to exclude other possible etiologies, including mental status changes, metabolic, infectious, traumatic, and iatrogenic causes. The categorization of HE encompasses a continuum, varying from the clinically silent minimal HE (MHE), which is only detectable using psychometric tests, to overt HE, which is further divided into four grades of severity. While there has been an increased effort to create fast and reliable methods for the detection of MHE, screening is still underperformed due to the lack of standardization and efficient methods of diagnosis. The management of HE requires consultation from various disciplines, including hepatology, primary care physicians, neurology, psychiatry, dietician/nutritionist, social workers, and other medical and surgical subspecialties based on clinical presentation and clear communication among these disciplines to best manage patients with HE throughout their course. The first-line therapy for HE is lactulose with or without rifaximin. Following the initial episode of overt HE, secondary prophylaxis with lactulose and/or rifaximin is indicated with the goal to prevent recurrent episodes and improve quality of life. Recent studies have demonstrated the negative impact of MHE on quality of life and clinical outcomes. In light of all this, we emphasize the importance of screening and treating MHE in patients with liver cirrhosis, particularly through a multidisciplinary team approach.
Vibration analysis of foam filled honeycomb sandwich panel – numerical study

AbstractHoneycomb structures are widely used in transportation industries. Owing to their lightweight, high strength, damage tolerance and thermal resistance, they are extensively used as a solution to modern engineering problems in the vehicle structure’s design. Furthermore, lightweight polymeric foams can be exploited to improve mechanical properties of sandwich panels. Recently, foam filled honeycomb sandwich panels have been proposed in order to benefit from mechanical characteristics of both honeycomb cellular structure and polymeric foam in the core of the sandwich panel. Until now, most of the investigations were delved into the mechanical properties of the foam filled honeycomb sandwich panels; in plane crushing, out of plane impact and local indentation response of these panels were broadly discussed previously. On the other hand, since many vehicles’ failure are related to severe vibrations, clear understanding of foam filled honeycomb panels eigenvibration properties is vital. In this paper, v...
Coding of Velocity Storage in the Vestibular Nuclei.

Semicircular canal afferents sense angular acceleration and output angular velocity with a short time constant of ≈4.5 sec. This output is prolonged by a central integrative network, velocity storage that lengthens the time constants of eye velocity. This mechanism utilizes canal, otolith, and visual (optokinetic) information to align the axis of eye velocity towards the spatial vertical when head orientation is off vertical axis. Previous studies indicated that vestibular-only (VO) and vestibular-pause-saccade (VPS) neurons located in the medial and superior vestibular nuclei could code all aspects of velocity storage. A recently-developed technique enabled prolonged recording while animals were rotated and received optokinetic stimulation about a spatial vertical axis while upright, side-down, prone, and supine. Firing rates of 33 VO and 8 VPS neurons were studied in alert Cynomolgus monkeys. Majority VO neurons were closely correlated with the horizontal component of velocity storage in head coordinates, regardless of head orientation in space. Approximately half of all tested neurons (46%) code horizontal component of velocity in head coordinates, while the others half (54%) changed their firing rates as the head was oriented relative to the spatial vertical, coding the horizontal component of eye velocity in spatial coordinates. Some VO neurons only coded the cross-coupled pitch or roll components that move the axis of eye rotation toward the spatial vertical. Sixty five percent of these VO and VPS neurons were more sensitive to rotation in one direction (predominantly contralateral), providing directional orientation for the subset of VO neurons on either side of the brainstem. This indicates that the three-dimensional velocity storage integrator is composed of directional subsets of neurons that are likely to be the bases for the spatial characteristics of velocity storage. Most VPS neurons ceased firing during drowsiness, but the firing rates of VO neurons were unaffected by states of alertness and declined with the time constant of velocity storage. Thus, the VO neurons are the prime components of the mechanism of coding for velocity storage, whereas the VPS neurons are likely to provide the path from the vestibular to the oculomotor system for the VO neurons.
An Assessment of Antebellum Immigration Federalism and The Myth of the Weak State

In a federal system of government, why did the U.S. national government wait until 1882 to take over control of immigration policy from the states and localities? This phenomenon is especially curious since the control of entry/exit into and across a nation’s borders is so fundamental to the very definition of a state. Is it because the American state was too weak to do so, or specifically that the national government lacked administrative capacity to handle immigration until the late twentieth century? I argue that the delay of the national government taking over immigration was not due to a lack of administrative capacity. Instead, there were regionally specific reasons that the states preferred to retain control of migration policy. In the northern seaboard states, the priority was excluding the poor, sick, and criminal, who, if admitted, would pose social and economic burdens on those states. In the South, the motivation was preserving slavery and guarding against slave insurrections. The national government could not take over migration policy until a series of political events uncoupled slavery and migration policy in the South, and the federal government assumed financial responsibility for screening poor, sick, and criminal immigrants in the North.
Evaluation of reported contents in prescription and over-the-counter prenatal multivitamins.

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the reported amount of 14 vitamins and 10 minerals in over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription (Rx) prenatal multivitamins and minerals (PMVMs) and compare them with the Health and Medicine Division (HMD) of the National Academies recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) and tolerable upper intake levels for intake. Design Observational convenience sample of supplemental facts labels on OTC and Rx PMVMs identified and evaluated from online retailers, grocery stores, and pharmacies. Setting and Participants Not applicable. Outcome Measures Reported vitamin and mineral amounts in PMVMs were compared with HMD RDAs to determine whether PMVMs could correct RDA deficiencies in the average pregnant woman's diet. Reported vitamin and mineral amounts were compared in OTC and Rx PMVMs and to HMD upper intake levels. Results One hundred sixty-three OTC and 88 Rx PMVMs were evaluated. The average pregnant woman in the United States is deficient in many vitamins and minerals from food intake alone. Over 80% of OTC and Rx PMVMs would correct the RDA deficit for vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, and iron. Over 90% of OTC products would correct the deficit for vitamin A and zinc; however, 47% and 74% of Rx products would correct for those deficits, respectively. Approximately 73% of OTC and 60% of Rx PMVMs corrected calcium deficit, and 33% of OTC and 24% of Rx PMVMs corrected vitamin D deficit. A minority of PMVMs corrected deficits for magnesium and choline. OTC products have significantly more of each vitamin compared with Rx, with several exceptions including: iron, folic acid, copper, and vitamin B6. Conclusion Most pregnant women take PMVMs. If pregnant women are not consuming enough essential micronutrients from diet, it is possible that PMVMs will provide adequate amounts; however, this depends on the specific vitamin or mineral. There is notable variation between Rx and OTC PMVM options.
An Examination of Selected Typologies

In exploring potential alcoholism typologies, this chapter critically examines findings of adoption, high-risk, and familial alcoholism studies and studies of psychiatric syndromes in alcoholic individuals and their families. The adoption studies revealed that familial alcoholism and childhood conduct disorder and hyperactivity are associated with subsequent alcoholism. However, the relationship between childhood hyperactivity and alcoholism is probably coincidental to the conjoint presence of aggressive and antisocial behaviors in the same individuals. Psychiatric diagnosis and family psychiatric history studies suggest a synergistic relationship between alcoholism and sociopathy. Clinical studies of familial and antisocial alcoholism indicate that both are associated with early onset, more severe alcoholism, and poorer treatment outcome. Both meet clinical criteria for an alcoholism typology, although the evidence is more compelling for antisocial alcoholism.
Distinguishing between fundamental dimensions of individualism–collectivism:: relations to sociopolitical attitudes and beliefs

Abstract This study examines the relations between individualism–collectivism and key sociopolitical attitudes (viz. social dominance orientation, pro-Black, anti-Black, Protestant ethic and humanitarianism–egalitarianism) among 332 undergraduate college students. In accord with [Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press], the concept of individualism–collectivism was measured across four dimensions, reflecting the combinations of horizontal (everyone is the same) versus vertical (everyone is different) and collectivistic ( focus on the group) versus individualistic ( focus on the individual). Results of computing Pearson correlations among the present measures provided some support for the construct validity of the four individualism–collectivism dimensions. Implications of the present findings for conceptualizing individualism and collectivism are discussed.
Ab-initio Study of the Ground-State Phase Diagram of the Icosahedral Ti-Zr-Ni Quasicrystal

In this work the structure and energy of the icosahedral TiZrNi quasicrystal and its approximants are investigated. First, a combined approach of a least-squares analysis of experimental diffraction data and ab-initio relaxations is used to study the structure of the icosahedral Ti-Zr-Ni quasicrystal. Second, the ground state phase diagram of the ternary Ti-Zr-Ni system is investigated by total energy calculations for approximants to the icosahedral quasicrystal and a large number of binary and ternary phases. The refined decoration model is found to be energetically stable for the approximant structures of the quasicrystal.
Toward a Halophenol Dehalogenase from Iodotyrosine Deiodinase via Computational Design

Reductive dehalogenation offers an attractive approach for removing halogenated pollutants from the environment, and iodotyrosine deiodinase (IYD) may contribute to this process after it can be eng...
Sustainable Remediation in Complex Geologic Systems

Author(s): Wainwright, Haruko; Arora, Bhavna; Hubbard, Susan; Lipnikov, Konstantin; Moulton, David; Flach, Greg; Eddy-Dilek, Carol; Denham, Miles
A Pilot of Data-Driven Modeling to Assess Potential for Improved Efficiency in an Academic Breast-Imaging Center

Patient satisfaction and department efficiency are central pillars in defining quality in medicine. Patient satisfaction is often linked to wait times. We describe a novel method to study workflow and simulate solutions to improve efficiency, thereby decreasing wait times and adding value. We implemented a real-time location system (RTLS) in our academic breast-imaging department to study workflow, including measuring patient wait time, quantifying equipment utilization, and identifying bottlenecks. Then, using discrete event simulation (DES), we modeled solutions with changes in staffing and equipment. Nine hundred and ninety-nine patient encounters were tracked over a 10-week period. The RTLS system recorded 551,512 raw staff and patient time stamps, which were analyzed to produce 17,042 staff and/or patient encounter time stamps. Mean patient wait time was 27 min. The digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) unit had the highest utilization rate and was identified as a bottleneck. DES predicts a 19.2% reduction in patient length of stay with replacement of a full field digital mammogram (FFDM) unit by a DBT unit and the addition of technologists. Through integration of RTLS with discrete event simulation testing, we created a model based on real-time data to accurately assess patient wait times and patient progress through an appointment, evaluate patient staff-interaction, identify system bottlenecks, and quantitate potential solutions. This quality improvement initiative has important implications, potentially allowing data-driven decisions for staff hiring, equipment purchases, and department layout.
Evaluating Longitudinal Associations Between Depressive Symptoms, Smoking, and Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease in the CARDIA Study.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate associations between 15-year trajectories of co-occurring depressive symptoms and smoking with biomarkers of cardiovascular disease at year 15. METHODS In the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, we modeled trajectories of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale [CES-D]) and smoking (cigarettes per day [CPD]) among 3614 adults followed from year 0 (ages 18-30 years) through year 15 (ages 33-45 years). Biomarkers of inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), oxidative stress (superoxide dismutase, F2-isoprostanes), and endothelial dysfunction (soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1, soluble P-selectin) were assessed at year 15. We conducted separate linear regression analyses with CES-D trajectory, CPD trajectory, and their interaction with each of the five biomarkers. RESULTS The sample was 56% women, 47% black, and 40 years old on average at year 15. The CES-D trajectory by CPD trajectory interaction was not associated with any of the biomarkers (all p's > .01). Removing the interaction term, CES-D trajectory was associated with inflammation: higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were observed in the subthreshold (β = 0.57, p = .004) and increasing depressive symptoms (β = 1.36, p < .001) trajectories compared with the no depression trajectory. CPD trajectory was associated with oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction: compared with never smokers, heavy smokers had significantly higher levels of F2-isoprostanes (β = 6.20, p = .001), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (β = 24.98, p < .001), and soluble P-selectin (β = 2.91, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS Co-occurring depressive symptoms and smoking do not seem to synergistically convey risk for cardiovascular disease via processes of inflammation, oxidative stress, or endothelial dysfunction. Nonetheless, these results advance our understanding of the complex relationships between modifiable risk factors and chronic disease.
Review Essay: Taking the Pulse of Emerging Modernity

The archaeology of the development of modernity as it emerged out of the Middle Ages is potentially one of the most important and powerful areas of study that can be pursued today. A number of historical archaeologists in Europe have taken up the difficult task of examining this transition, and are currently providing insights into the shift from feudalism to mercantilism and capitalism. This topic is both important to the understanding of history and to providing tangible proof that historical archaeology has the potential to contribute to knowledge about the globalization process. Three recent books in particular are especially significant in this archaeological endeavor.
Intersensory redundancy promotes infant detection of prosody in infant-directed speech.

Abstract Prosody, or the intonation contours of speech, conveys emotion and intention to the listener and provides infants with an early basis for detecting meaning in speech. Infant-directed speech (IDS) is characterized by exaggerated prosody, slower tempo, and elongated pauses, all amodal properties detectable across the face and voice. Although speech is an audiovisual event, it has been studied primarily as a unimodal auditory stream without the synchronized dynamic face of the speaker. According to the intersensory redundancy hypothesis, redundancy across the senses facilitates perceptual learning of amodal information, including prosody. We predicted that young infants who are still learning to discriminate and categorize prosodic information would detect prosodic changes better in the presence of intersensory redundancy (i.e., synchronous audiovisual speech) than in its absence (i.e., unimodal auditory or asynchronous audiovisual speech). To test this hypothesis, 72 4-month-old infants were habituated to recordings of women reciting passages in IDS with prosody conveying either approval or prohibition and then were tested with recordings of a novel passage with either a change or no change in prosody. Infants who received bimodal synchronous stimulation exhibited significant visual recovery to the novel passage with a change in prosody, but not to a novel passage with no change in prosody. Infants in the unimodal auditory and bimodal asynchronous conditions did not exhibit visual recovery in either condition. Results support the hypothesis that intersensory redundancy facilitates detection and abstraction of invariant prosody across changes in linguistic content and likely serves as an early foundation for the detection of meaning in fluent speech.
The Closed-Circuit Television Reading System: Fact or Fiasco?.

After simply describing the basic principles of the CCTV and its uses in low vision rehabilitation, the author provides a general critique of the system as it is currently being marketed. The unsol...
Plasma-derived HIV Nef+ exosomes persist in ACTG384 study participants despite successful virological suppression

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) accessory protein Negative factor (Nef) is detected in the plasma of HIV+ individuals associated with exosomes. The role of Nef+ exosomes (exNef) in HIV pathogenesis is unknown. We perform a retrospective longitudinal analysis to determine correlative clinical associations of exNef plasma levels in ARV-treated HIV+ patients with or without immune recovery. exNef concentration in a subset of AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) 384 participants with successful virological suppression and with either high ({Delta} >100 CD4 cell recovery/High Immunological Responders (High-IR) or low ({Delta} [≤]100 CD4 cell recovery/ Low Immunologic Responders (Low-IR) immunologic recovery was measured and compared for study weeks 48, 96, and 144. CD4 recovery showed a negative correlation with exNef at study week 144 (r = -0.3573, *p=.0366). Plasma exNef concentration in high IRs negatively correlated with naive CD4 count and recovery (r = -0.3249, *p = 0. 0348 (High-IR); r =0.2981, *p= #0.0513 (Low-IR)). However, recovery of CD4 memory cells positively correlated with exNef (r =.4534, *p=.0358) in Low-IRs but not in High-IRs. Regimen A (Didanosine, Stavudine, Efavirenz) lowered exNef levels in IRs by 2-fold compared to other regimens. Nef+ exosomes persist in ART-treated HIV+ individuals despite undetectable viral loads, negatively correlates with naive and memory CD4 T cell restoration and may be associated with reduced immunological recovery. Taken together, these data suggest that exNef may represent a novel mechanism utilized by HIV to promote immune dysregulation.
Representation of therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome in clinical trials over the past 20 years

Therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS), defined as MDS occurring after previous exposure to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, constitutes 10% to 20% of all MDS diagnoses. t-MDS patients tend to have higher-risk disease and worse outcomes than de novo MDS patients and are often excluded from therapeutic clinical trials. To explore this further, we extracted clinical trials across all status types registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from 1999 to 2018 studying untreated MDS patients. Using these specific search criteria, we analyzed 317 therapeutic MDS trials based on study status, therapeutic indication, eligibility criteria, and sponsor type to examine if these factors influenced t-MDS patient inclusion. Only 18 studies (5.7%) accrued 231 t-MDS patients in total, representing 3.2% of the total accrued MDS trial patient population. Fewer t-MDS patients were accrued in therapeutic trials sponsored by pharmaceutical sponsors vs nonpharmaceutical sponsors (2.8% vs 4.0%; P = .0073). This pattern of exclusion continues in actively enrolling trials; only 5 (10%) of 49 studies specifically mention the inclusion of t-MDS patients in their eligibility criteria. Our results indicate that therapeutic MDS trials seem to exclude t-MDS patients, rendering study results less applicable to this subset of MDS patients, who often have poor outcomes. Our study emphasizes the importance of the recent focus by National Cancer Institute cooperative groups and societies to broaden eligibility criteria for all patients.