Combining EEG and Eye Tracking: Using Fixation-Locked Potentials in Visual Search

Visual search is a complex task that involves many neural pathways to identify relevant areas of interest within a scene. Humans remain a critical component in visual search tasks, as they can effectively perceive anomalies within complex scenes. However, this task can be challenging, particularly under time pressure. In order to improve visual search training and performance, an objective, process-based measure is needed. Eye tracking technology can be used to drive real-time parsing of EEG recordings, providing an indication of the analysis process. In the current study, eye fixations were used to generate ERPs during a visual search task. Clear differences were observed following performance, suggesting that neurophysiological signatures could be developed to prevent errors in visual search tasks

Strain smoothing for compressible and nearly-incompressible finite elasticity

We present a robust and efficient form of the smoothed finite element method (S-FEM) to simulate hyperelastic bodies with compressible and nearly-incompressible neo-Hookean behaviour. The resulting method is stable, free from volumetric locking and robust on highly distorted meshes. To ensure inf-sup stability of our method we add a cubic bubble function to each element. The weak form for the smoothed hyperelastic problem is derived analogously to that of smoothed linear elastic problem. Smoothed strains and smoothed deformation gradients are evaluated on sub-domains selected by either edge information (edge-based S-FEM, ES-FEM) or nodal information (node-based S-FEM, NS-FEM). Numerical examples are shown that demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of the proposed approach in the nearly-incompressible limit and on highly distorted meshes. We conclude that, strain smoothing is at least as accurate and stable, as the MINI element, for an equivalent problem size

Physician Executive Leadership: Student-Led Curriculum to Fill Gaps in Traditional Medical Education

Students at Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) have identified a gap in the traditional medical curriculum surrounding topics such as telehealth, the patient experience, health policy, medical malpractice, and health care entrepreneurship and innovation, and in response have initiated a student-centered, student-led, student-driven program called Physician Executive Leadership (PEL). PEL provides students with a variety of avenues to engage with these topics, such as lectures from leaders in each of these fields, easy access to weekly news articles on current events in health care, targeted review sessions on the US health care system, and the opportunity to voice and develop ideas through an online publication. To identify the gaps in medical education PEL is best suited to fill, we administered a survey to 174 students at Sidney Kimmel Medical College.The survey contained 20 multiple-choice questions to assess general knowledge on health insurance and reimbursement, health care policy and reform, and care quality and patient experience. It also included a subjective self-assessment of students’ understanding of and interest in these topics. Overall, we found that although the traditional medical school curriculum improved students\u27 understanding of these topics from year to year, it is not sufficient on it\u27s own: on average, students failed to achieve a passing score of 70% in any of the categories tested. Further illustrating the importance of this program, students self-identified a gap between their current level of understanding and what they want to know. Please visit our website www.physicianexecutiveleadership.com to learn more!https://jdc.jefferson.edu/pel/1000/thumbnail.jp

Armed to Farm: Developing Training Programs For Military Veterans in Agriculture

Farming offers a viable avenue for returning veterans to transition into society and capitalizes on skills that made them successful in the military. However, these opportunities may be missed due to a lack of targeted training programs, guidance, and information for the veteran community. Programs directed toward educating beginning farmers, along with increased awareness and demand for local food production, have provided an opportunity for individuals interested in farming. However, few programs have focused on the needs of veterans interested in agriculture. Since 2007, our team has directly supported approximately 300 veterans interested in farming through workshops, internships, research, and training opportunities and an additional 650 veterans nationally through the Farmer Veteran Coalition. As more programs develop for veterans in agricultural disciplines, we believe lessons learned from our partnership with veterans may be beneficial to those working with this population of farmers

Invisible Disabilities in Education and Employment

More than 1 in 5 UK adults are disabled. Disabilities that are not immediately obvious are known as ‘invisible disabilities’, such as mental health conditions, neurodivergences and energy-limiting conditions.1 Evidence on this topic is limited as most research focuses on disability in general, or on a few specific conditions. Those with invisible disabilities may face challenges due to a lack of awareness and difficulty accessing support and services. Strategies aimed at increasing access and inclusion for adults with invisible disabilities in employment, and in higher and further education, could include: increasing awareness and understanding via training and reciprocal mentoring schemes; introducing ‘passports’ for transfer of adjustments to avoid repeated disclosure; inclusive design that considers sensory and informational barriers to access; maintaining online access to events and services post-pandemic; updating policy and guidance with examples of less recognised invisible disabilities; and promoting flexible working and learning arrangements. The 2021 National Disability Strategy set out the actions the Government would take to improve the lives of disabled people, including making workplaces more inclusive and accessible. However, the High Court ruled in 2022 that the strategy was “unlawful due to inadequate consultation”, which the Government has sought permission to appeal. Fourteen policies in the strategy are currently paused

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN