Despite the importance of damage awards, juries are often at sea about the amounts that should be awarded, with widely differing awards for cases that seem comparable. We tested a new model of damage award decision making by systematically varying the size, context, and meaningfulness of numerical comparisons or anchors. As a result, we were able to elicit large differences in award amounts that replicated for 2 different cases. Although even arbitrary dollar amounts (unrelated to the cases) influenced the size of award judgments, the most consistent effects of numerical anchors were achieved when the amounts were meaningful in the sense that they conveyed the gist of numbers as small or large. Consistent with the model, the ordinal gist of the severity of plaintiff’s damages and defendant’s liability predicted damage awards, controlling for other factors such as motivation for the award-judgment task and perceived economic damages. Contrary to traditional dual-process approaches, numeracy and cognitive style (e.g., need for cognition and cognitive reflection) were not significant predictors of these numerical judgments, but they were associated with lower levels of variability once the gist of the judgments was taken into account. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

Doses of hCG far lower than those used clinically increase IT-T concentrations in a dose-dependent manner in normal men with experimental gonadotropin deficiency. Assessment of IT-T provides a valuable tool to investigate the hormonal regulation of spermatogenesis in man.

Objective To study the potential role for using serum biomarkers including insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and inhibin B (INHB) as correlates of intratesticular testosterone (IT-T) concentrations in men. Design Prospective, randomized-controlled trial Setting University-based medical center Patients 37 healthy men ages 18–50 Interventions All men received the gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist, acyline, plus very low doses of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) (0 IU, 15 IU, 60 IU or 125 IU) subcutaneously every other day or 7.5 grams testosterone gel daily (7.5 mg delivered). IT-T concentrations obtained by percutaneous testicular aspiration with simultaneous serum protein and steroid concentrations were measured at baseline and after 10 days of treatment. Main Outcome Measures Intratesticular and serum hormone and gonadotropin concentrations Results Following 10 days of gonadotropin suppression, serum INSL3 decreased by over 90% and correlated highly with IT-T concentrations. In contrast, serum INHB, AMH and 17-OHP did not correlate with IT-T. Serum INSL3 increased with the dose of hCG administered and returned to baseline after treatment. Conclusions Serum INSL3 correlates highly with IT-T and serum testosterone concentrations during acute gonadotropin suppression in men. HCG stimulates dose-dependent increases in INSL3 and IT-T in healthy men and might be a useful biomarker of IT-T concentration in some clinical settings. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT# 00839319

Sex steroids are essential for spermatogenesis; however, normal intratesticular concentrations of these hormones in man have not been extensively studied. To improve our understanding of intratesticular hormone concentrations, we performed bilateral testicular aspirations in a group of normal men, determined sex steroid concentrations within each testis, and compared these levels to serum hormone concentrations. Ten healthy human subjects aged 20-49 underwent bilateral testicular aspirations. Intratesticular hormone concentrations of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and estradiol were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Intratesticular testosterone concentrations ranged from 119 to 1251 ng/mL, with a mean of 635 6 368 ng/mL. Intratesticular estradiol ranged from 0.41 to 3.9 ng/mL, with a mean of 2.4 6 1.3 ng/mL. Intratesticular DHT ranged from 1.1 to 7.9 ng/mL, with a mean of 3.5 6 3.2 ng/mL. Intratesticular testosterone and estradiol concentrations correlated highly with serum luteinizing hormone (LH; r 5 0.87 and r 5 0.70 respectively, P , .01). Intratesticular testosterone correlated highly with serum testosterone. Moreover, a significant correlation between the right and left testes was observed for testosterone (r 5 0.82, P 5 .003), but not for estradiol or DHT. Intratesticular hormone concentrations can be safely assessed by testicular aspiration. Intratesticular testosterone and estradiol correlate highly with serum LH concentrations, and variation in serum LH accounts for most of the variation in intratesticular testosterone among men. In addition, intratesticular testosterone is highly correlated between testes in a given individual. Direct measurement of intratesticular testosterone will improve our understanding of the relationship between intratesticular sex steroids and spermatogenesis, and may have implications for the development of male hormonal contraception.

In the next decade, the demands for computing in large scientific experiments are expected to grow tremendously. During the same time period, CPU performance increases will be limited. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), these two issues will confront one another as the collider is upgraded for high luminosity running. Alternative processors such as graphics processing units (GPUs) can resolve this confrontation provided that algorithms can be sufficiently accelerated. In many cases, algorithmic speedups are found to be largest through the adoption of deep learning algorithms. We present a comprehensive exploration of the use of GPU-based hardware acceleration for deep learning inference within the data reconstruction workflow of high energy physics. We present several realistic examples and discuss a strategy for the seamless integration of coprocessors so that the LHC can maintain, if not exceed, its current performance throughout its running.