Concerns with AED conversion: comparison of patient and physician perspectives.

When discussing AED conversion in the clinic, both the patient and physician perspectives on the goals and risks of this change are important to consider. To identify patient-reported and clinician-perceived concerns, a panel of epilepsy specialists was questioned about the topics discussed with patients and the clinician's perspective of patient concerns. Findings of a literature review of articles that report patient-expressed concerns regarding their epilepsy and treatment were also reviewed. Results showed that the specialist panel appropriately identified patient-reported concerns of driving ability, medication cost, seizure control, and medication side effects. Additionally, patient-reported concerns of independence, employment issues, social stigma, medication dependence, and undesirable cognitive effects are important to address when considering and initiating AED conversion

Geoarchaeology of the 1926 Seeberger Excavation - Jackson County, Iowa

In 1926, Paul Nesbitt discovered around 350 shards of clay pottery in Seeberger cave, located 6 miles north of Maquoketa, Iowa. It is unknown if these artifacts were made in Iowa, or brought over from neighboring states. For this project, Dr. Heinzel, Faith Luce and I traveled to the area to collect samples of clay and stone. We got close to the cave, but didn’t have the equipment to cross the river at the time. The area we collected our samples from is about 600 meters away from the original site. The samples will be used to characterize the site, along with GIS and drone imaging. We plan on going back to the site to do more work and collect more samples. We are currently analyzing the chemical and physical properties of the collected samples to determine if the local resources match the potter

Deterministic tuning of slow-light in photonic-crystal waveguides through the C and L bands by atomic layer deposition

We demonstrate digital tuning of the slow-light regime in silicon photonic-crystal waveguides by performing atomic layer deposition of hafnium oxide. The high group-index regime was deterministically controlled (red-shift of 140 +/- 10 pm per atomic layer) without affecting the group-velocity dispersion and third-order dispersion. Additionally, differential tuning of 110 +/- 30 pm per monolayer of the slow-light TE-like and TM-like modes was observed. This passive post-fabrication process has potential applications including the tuning of chip-scale optical interconnects, as well as Raman and parametric amplification.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

An Alternative Approach to Nucleic Acid Memory

DNA is a compelling alternative to non-volatile information storage technologies due to its information density, stability, and energy efficiency. Previous studies have used artificially synthesized DNA to store data and automated next-generation sequencing to read it back. Here, we report digital Nucleic Acid Memory (dNAM) for applications that require a limited amount of data to have high information density, redundancy, and copy number. In dNAM, data is encoded by selecting combinations of single-stranded DNA with (1) or without (0) docking-site domains. When self-assembled with scaffold DNA, staple strands form DNA origami breadboards. Information encoded into the breadboards is read by monitoring the binding of fluorescent imager probes using DNA-PAINT super-resolution microscopy. To enhance data retention, a multi-layer error correction scheme that combines fountain and bi-level parity codes is used. As a prototype, fifteen origami encoded with ‘Data is in our DNA!\n’ are analyzed. Each origami encodes unique data-droplet, index, orientation, and error-correction information. The error-correction algorithms fully recover the message when individual docking sites, or entire origami, are missing. Unlike other approaches to DNA-based data storage, reading dNAM does not require sequencing. As such, it offers an additional path to explore the advantages and disadvantages of DNA as an emerging memory material

Chromosome Conformation Capture Carbon Copy (5C): a massively parallel solution for mapping interactions between genomic elements

Physical interactions between genetic elements located throughout the genome play important roles in gene regulation and can be identified with the Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) methodology. 3C converts physical chromatin interactions into specific ligation products, which are quantified individually by PCR. Here we present a high-throughput 3C approach, 3C-Carbon Copy (5C), that employs microarrays or quantitative DNA sequencing using 454-technology as detection methods. We applied 5C to analyze a 400-kb region containing the human beta-globin locus and a 100-kb conserved gene desert region. We validated 5C by detection of several previously identified looping interactions in the beta-globin locus. We also identified a new looping interaction in K562 cells between the beta-globin Locus Control Region and the gamma-beta-globin intergenic region. Interestingly, this region has been implicated in the control of developmental globin gene switching. 5C should be widely applicable for large-scale mapping of cis- and trans- interaction networks of genomic elements and for the study of higher-order chromosome structure

Explanatory multivariate modeling for disability, pain, and claims in patients with spine pain via a physical therapy direct access model of care

BACKGROUND: Direct access physical therapy (DAPT) may result in improved patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs. Prognostic factors associated with spine-related outcomes and insurance claims with DAPT are needed. OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that predict variations in outcomes for spine pain and insurance claims using DAPT. METHODS: Individuals (N = 250) with spine pain were analyzed. Outcomes were classified into High, Low, or Did Not Meet minimal clinically important difference (MCID) scores. Claims were categorized into low, medium, or high tertiles. Prognostic variables were identified from patient information. RESULTS: Females were more likely to meet High MCID (odds ratio [OR] 2.84 (95% CI = 1.32, 6.11) and Low MCID (OR 2.86, 95% CI = 1.34, 6.10). Higher initial ODI/NDI scores were associated with High MCID (OR 1.04, 95% CI = 1.07, 1.22) and Low MCID (OR 0.91, 95% CI = 0.77, 1.07). Odds of a high claim were lowered by the absence of imaging (OR 0.04, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.09) and an active versus passive treatment (OR 0.38, 95% CI = 0.18, 0.80). CONCLUSION: Females and higher initial disability predicted favorable outcomes. The novel introduction of claims into the prognostic modeling supports that active interventions and avoiding imaging may reduce claims

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals.

The comparison of related genomes has emerged as a powerful lens for genome interpretation. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analysis of 29 eutherian genomes. We confirm that at least 5.5% of the human genome has undergone purifying selection, and locate constrained elements covering ∼4.2% of the genome. We use evolutionary signatures and comparisons with experimental data sets to suggest candidate functions for ∼60% of constrained bases. These elements reveal a small number of new coding exons, candidate stop codon readthrough events and over 10,000 regions of overlapping synonymous constraint within protein-coding exons. We find 220 candidate RNA structural families, and nearly a million elements overlapping potential promoter, enhancer and insulator regions. We report specific amino acid residues that have undergone positive selection, 280,000 non-coding elements exapted from mobile elements and more than 1,000 primate- and human-accelerated elements. Overlap with disease-associated variants indicates that our findings will be relevant for studies of human biology, health and disease

Evaluation of Arylimidamides DB1955 and DB1960 as Candidates against Visceral Leishmaniasis and Chagas' Disease: In Vivo Efficacy, Acute Toxicity, Pharmacokinetics, and Toxicology Studies

Arylimidamides (AIAs) have shown outstanding in vitro potency against intracellular kinetoplastid parasites, and the AIA 2,5-bis[2-(2-propoxy)-4-(2-pyridylimino)aminophenyl]furan dihydrochloride (DB766) displayed good in vivo efficacy in rodent models of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and Chagas' disease. In an attempt to further increase the solubility and in vivo antikinetoplastid potential of DB766, the mesylate salt of this compound and that of the closely related AIA 2,5-bis[2-(2-cyclopentyloxy)-4-(2-pyridylimino)aminophenyl]furan hydrochloride (DB1852) were prepared. These two mesylate salts, designated DB1960 and DB1955, respectively, exhibited dose-dependent activity in the murine model of VL, with DB1960 inhibiting liver parasitemia by 51% at an oral dose of 100 mg/kg/day × 5 and DB1955 reducing liver parasitemia by 57% when given by the same dosing regimen. In a murine Trypanosoma cruzi infection model, DB1960 decreased the peak parasitemia levels that occurred at 8 days postinfection by 46% when given orally at 100 mg/kg/day × 5, while DB1955 had no effect on peak parasitemia levels when administered by the same dosing regimen. Distribution studies revealed that these compounds accumulated to micromolar levels in the liver, spleen, and kidneys but to a lesser extent in the heart, brain, and plasma. A 5-day repeat-dose toxicology study with DB1960 and DB1955 was also conducted with female BALB/c mice, with the compounds administered orally at 100, 200, and 500 mg/kg/day. In the high-dose groups, DB1960 caused changes in serum chemistry, with statistically significant increases in serum blood urea nitrogen, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase levels, and a 21% decrease in body weight was observed in this group. These changes were consistent with microscopic findings in the livers and kidneys of the treated animals. The incidences of observed clinical signs (hunched posture, tachypnea, tremors, and ruffled fur) were more frequent in DB1960-treated groups than in those treated with DB1955. However, histopathological examination of tissue samples indicated that both compounds had adverse effects at all dose levels.This work was supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, contract N01-AI-60011 with SRI International from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, FIOCRUZ, and by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) PPSUS, APQ1, and Pensa-Rio (16/2009-E-26/110-313/2010), Conselho Nacional Desenvolvimento científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), PDTIS/FIOCRUZ, and PROEP. We thank the other members of the Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development for helpful discussions

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected