A Safe Culture for Neuroscience

When examining the future impact of neuroscience on the law, the first step requires narrowing the scope of the inquiry: advances in neuroscience are exciting, but the beneficial or harmful effects of those advances will depend on the specific culture in which they occur. In some cultures—such as in Norway or Sweden—integrating advances in neuroscience into the criminal justice system is likely to enhance understanding and improve the treatment of offenders and potential offenders. In the neoliberal culture of the United States, advances are more likely to exacerbate the profound wrongs of the criminal justice system rather than ameliorate them. The important question for neoliberal cultures is whether advances in neuroscience might contribute to the reform of those cultures. While neuroscience can contribute to that goal, there is a danger that neuroscience advances might encourage the radical individualist orientation of neoliberalism and revive a “nothing works” attitude toward rehabilitation. The benefits of neuroscience are more likely to emerge when the worst elements of neoliberal culture have been reformed

Subterranean Loss and Gain of Water in Mountain Lake, Virginia: A Hydrologic Model

Mountain Lake, Virginia is a small, unique, oligotrophic, subalpine ecosystem in the southern Appalachians. Previous studies have disclosed that this lake has manifested periodic prolonged low water levels during the several thousand years of its existence. The most recent low water level occurred during the drought years of 1999-2002. Measurements of lake level, precipitation, and other meteorological data including calculated evapotranspiration in the lake basin from 2/19/02 to 8/31/03 have enabled estimation of net subterranean water losses presumably through cracks between Clinch sandstone boulders and/or the recently discovered deep hole at the northwest end of Mountain Lake. These net losses reflect the balance between total losses and any gains from springs and boulder cracks not quantified in this study. Scuba divers have documented the existence of these cracks and the deep hole. Subterranean net water losses of about 0.04-0.05 m3/s (634-792 gpm) apparently occur year-round

EquiFACS: the Equine Facial Action Coding System

Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS) provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus) through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS) and consistently code behavioural sequences was high—and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats). EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices

Research collaboration

AbstractThe complexity and cost of cardiovascular medical care dictate research to deliver high quality and cost-conscious cardiovascular care. This goal is aided by modeling medical decision making. To be useful, the modeling must be based on real data so that the results can serve as a guide to actual practice. It is suggested that a registry of randomized clinical trials and larger data bases in cardiovascular disease and health care delivery be established. The registry would be a resource for those desiring to model decision making. The registry would contain key words allowing retrieval by modelers accessing the registry and would contain contact information for consideration of possible collaborative work. The initiation of such a registry should contain plans for its evaluation to determine whether the registry itself is a cost-effective tool to encourage the needed research

Etiology of pure tricuspid regurgitation based on anular circumference and leaflet area: Analysis of 45 necropsy patients with clinical and morphologic evidence of pure tricuspid regurgitation

Despite recent renewed interest in the detection of tricuspid valve regurgitation by echocardiographic and Doppler techniques, little morphologic information is available on dysfunctioning tricuspid valves. This report describes 45 necropsy patients with clinical and morphologic evidence of pure(no element of stenosis) tricuspid regurgitation and provides morphometric observations (anular circumference, leaflet area) of the tricuspid valve useful in determining the etiology of pure tricuspid regurgitation. Of 45 patients, 24 (53%) had pure tricuspid regurgitation resulting from an anatomically abnormal valve (prolap9e in 7, papillary muscle dysfunction in 6, rheumatic disease in 5, Ebstein's anomaly in 3, infective endocarditis in 2, carcinoid tumor in 1), and 21(47%) had an anatomically normal valve with systolic pulmonary artery hypertension (cor pulmonary in 12, mitral stenosis in 9). Anular circumference was dilated (> 12 cm) in patients with various causes of pulmonary hypertension, floppy valve and Ebstein's tricuspid anomaly. Leaflet area was increased in floppy valve and Ebstein's anomaly.Of the 45 patients, 24 had pulmonary systolic artery pressure measurements available for correlation with tricuspid valve morphology. Pulmonary artery pressures accurately predicted morphologically normal from abnormal valves in 16 patients (89 %). Morphologic overlap occurred in six patients with pulmonary pressures of 41 to 54 mm Hg. Of these six, the additional knowledge of normal or dilated anular circumference correctly separated valves with normal and abnormal leaflets

Open Educational Resources and their Implementation at Miami University

A white paper submitted on 9/8/2015 by the members of the 2014 –2015 Faculty Learning Community Exploring Open Educational Resources at Miami University. Covers OER definition, best practices, benefits and evidence, OER as a strategy to meet 2020 goals, implementing an OER culture at Miami University, and a preliminary plan.Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at Miami University Miami University Librarie

Identification of a small molecule yeast TORC1 inhibitor with a flow cytometry-based multiplex screen

TOR (target of rapamycin) is a serine/threonine kinase, evolutionarily conserved from yeast to human, which functions as a fundamental controller of cell growth. The moderate clinical benefit of rapamycin in mTOR-based therapy of many cancers favors the development of new TOR inhibitors. Here we report a high throughput flow cytometry multiplexed screen using five GFPtagged yeast clones that represent the readouts of four branches of the TORC1 signaling pathway in budding yeast. Each GFP-tagged clone was differentially color-coded and the GFP signal of each clone was measured simultaneously by flow cytometry, which allows rapid prioritization of compounds that likely act through direct modulation of TORC1 or proximal signaling components. A total of 255 compounds were confirmed in dose-response analysis to alter GFP expression in one or more clones. To validate the concept of the high throughput screen, we have characterized CID 3528206, a small molecule most likely to act on TORC1 as it alters GFP expression in all five GFP clones in an analogous manner to rapamycin. We have shown that CID 3528206 inhibited yeast cell growth, and that CID 3528206 inhibited TORC1 activity both in vitro and in vivo with EC50s of 150 nM and 3.9 μM, respectively. The results of microarray analysis and yeast GFP collection screen further support the notion that CID 3528206 and rapamycin modulate similar cellular pathways. Together, these results indicate that the HTS has identified a potentially useful small molecule for further development of TOR inhibitors

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis