The Character X Factor in Selecting Leaders: Beyond Ethics, Virtues, and Values

Leading with character requires a person to maintain a delicate balance of certain traits and understand the tensions which exist between humility and conviction, reluctance and courage, and vulnerability and integrity. A true leader must look beyond the content of a problem and rather examine the context of his or her individual make-up in relationship to themselves as well as to their surroundings

Effect of abdominal binding on respiratory mechanics during exercise in athletes with cervical spinal cord injury

West CR, Goosey-Tolfrey VL, Campbell IG, Romer LM. Effect of abdominal binding on respiratory mechanics during exercise in athletes with cervical spinal cord injury. J Appl Physiol 117: 36–45, 2014. First published May 22, 2014; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00218.2014.—We asked whether elastic binding of the abdomen influences respiratory mechanics during wheelchair propulsion in athletes with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Eight Paralympic wheelchair rugby players with motor-complete SCI (C5-C7) performed submaximal and maximal incremental exercise tests on a treadmill, both with and without abdominal binding. Measurements included pulmonary function, pressure-derived indices of respiratory mechanics, operating lung volumes, tidal flow-volume data, gas exchange, blood lactate, and symptoms. Residual volume and functional residual capacity were reduced with binding (77 18 and 81 11% of unbound, P 0.05), vital capacity was increased (114 9%, P 0.05), whereas total lung capacity was relatively well preserved (99 5%). During exercise, binding introduced a passive increase in transdiaphragmatic pressure, due primarily to an increase in gastric pressure. Active pressures during inspiration were similar across conditions. A sudden, sustained rise in operating lung volumes was evident in the unbound condition, and these volumes were shifted downward with binding. Expiratory flow limitation did not occur in any subject and there was substantial reserve to increase flow and volume in both conditions. V ˙ O2 was elevated with binding during the final stages of exercise (8 –12%, P 0.05), whereas blood lactate concentration was reduced (16 –19%, P 0.05). V ˙ O2/heart rate slopes were less steep with binding (62 35 vs. 47 24 ml/beat, P 0.05). Ventilation, symptoms, and work rates were similar across conditions. The results suggest that abdominal binding shifts tidal breathing to lower lung volumes without influencing flow limitation, symptoms, or exercise tolerance. Changes in respiratory mechanics with binding may benefit O2 transport capacity by an improvement in central circulatory function.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Inhibition of interleukin-1 signaling enhances elimination of tyrosine kinase inhibitor treated CML stem cells

Treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) with BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) fails to eliminate leukemia stem cells (LSC). Patients remain at risk for relapse, and additional approaches to deplete CML LSC are needed to enhance the possibility of discontinuing TKI treatment. We have previously reported that expression of the pivotal proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) is increased in CML bone marrow (BM). We show here that CML LSC demonstrated increased expression of the IL-1 receptors, IL-1RAP and IL- 1R1, and enhanced sensitivity to IL-1-induced NF-KB signaling compared to normal stem cells. Treatment with recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) inhibited IL-1 signaling in CML LSC and inhibited growth of CML LSC. Importantly, the combination of IL-1RA with TKI resulted in significantly greater inhibition of CML LSC compared with TKI alone. Our studies also suggest that IL-1 signaling contributes to overexpression of inflammatory mediators in CML LSC, suggesting that blocking IL-1 signaling could modulate the inflammatory milieu. We conclude that IL-1 signaling contributes to maintenance of CML LSC following TKI treatment, and that IL- 1 blockade with IL-1RA enhances elimination of TKI-treated CML LSC. These results provide a strong rationale for further exploration of anti-IL-1 strategies to enhance LSC elimination in CML

The influence of sea ice and snow cover and nutrient availability on the formation of massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms in the Chukchi Sea

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 118 (2015): 122-135, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.02.008.A coupled biophysical model is used to examine the impact of changes in sea ice and snow cover and nutrient availability on the formation of massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms (MUPBs) in the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean over the period 1988–2013. The model is able to reproduce the basic features of the ICESCAPE (Impacts of Climate on EcoSystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment) observed MUPB during July 2011. The simulated MUPBs occur every year during 1988–2013, mainly in between mid-June and mid-July. While the simulated under-ice blooms of moderate magnitude are widespread in the Chukchi Sea, MUPBs are less so. On average, the area fraction of MUPBs in the ice-covered areas of the Chukchi Sea during June and July is about 8%, which has been increasing at a rate of 2% yr–1 over 1988–2013. The simulated increase in the area fraction as well as primary productivity and chlorophyll a biomass is linked to an increase in light availability, in response to a decrease in sea ice and snow cover, and an increase in nutrient availability in the upper 100 m of the ocean, in conjunction with an intensification of ocean circulation. Simulated MUPBs are temporally sporadic and spatially patchy because of strong spatiotemporal variations of light and nutrient availability. However, as observed during ICESCAPE, there is a high likelihood that MUPBs may form at the shelf break, where the model simulates enhanced nutrient concentration that is seldom depleted between mid-June and mid-July because of generally robust shelf-break upwelling and other dynamic ocean processes. The occurrence of MUPBs at the shelf break is more frequent in the past decade than in the earlier period because of elevated light availability there. It may be even more frequent in the future if the sea ice and snow cover continues to decline such that light is more available at the shelf break to further boost the formation of MUPBs there.This work is supported by the NASA Cryosphere Program and Climate and Biological Response Program and the NSF Office of Polar Programs (Grant Nos. NNX12AB31G; NNX11AO91G; ARC-0901987)