235 research outputs found
A Foot in the Door: The Annotated Checklist
The role of the reading specialist has traditionally been perceived as broader in some scope than that of just a remedial teacher. Ideally, the reading specialist becomes a resource upon which all classroom teachers can rely. Some recent evidence (IRA, 1976) seems to support the assumption that this ideal is, at least to some degree, a reality at the elementary level
Tweets as impact indicators: Examining the implications of automated bot accounts on Twitter
This brief communication presents preliminary findings on automated Twitter
accounts distributing links to scientific papers deposited on the preprint
repository arXiv. It discusses the implication of the presence of such bots
from the perspective of social media metrics (altmetrics), where mentions of
scholarly documents on Twitter have been suggested as a means of measuring
impact that is both broader and timelier than citations. We present preliminary
findings that automated Twitter accounts create a considerable amount of tweets
to scientific papers and that they behave differently than common social bots,
which has critical implications for the use of raw tweet counts in research
evaluation and assessment. We discuss some definitions of Twitter cyborgs and
bots in scholarly communication and propose differentiating between different
levels of engagement from tweeting only bibliographic information to discussing
or commenting on the content of a paper.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Assessment of Imagining and Material Characteristics of a Radiopaque, Thermoresponsive Hydrogel for Intratumoral Administration to Solid Tumours
Introduction
Thermoresponsive hydrogels are gels which have different properties at varying temperatures. The objective of this study was to assess the material characteristics, imaging properties and chemotherapeutic drug release profile of a novel radiopaque thermoresponsive hydrogel, which is liquid at room temperature but solidifies at body temperature, to determine potential suitability for intratumoral delivery.
Materials and Methods
An iodinated radiopaque thermoresponsive hydrogel was formulated using iodixanol at a range of concentrations and assessed for sol-gel transition, radiopacity and imaging using CT and US. A lead formulation containing 9.22% w/w iodixanol was evaluated for injectability, disintegration and dual drug release of cisplatin and paclitaxel from the hydrogel formulation.
Results
Radiopacity of the hydrogel increased in a concentration dependent manner but higher concentrations of iodixanol adversely affected the sol-gel transition of the hydrogel, therefore 9.22%w/w iodixanol hydrogel was identified as the lead formulation. This formulation was readily visible on both CT and US. The formulation was hand-injectable through a range of clinically relevant devices, had a sustained disintegration profile for up to 28 days, and was able to deliver a sustained release of chemotherapeutic drug for up to 10 days.
Discussion
Favourable imaging and material characteristics of this thermoresponsive gel are demonstrated, suggesting potential interventional oncology applications for image-guided intratumoral delivery of sustained-release chemotherapy
A Custom Radiopaque Thermoresponsive Chemotherapy-Loaded Hydrogel for Intratumoural Injection: An In Vitro and Ex Vivo Assessment of Imaging Characteristics and Material Properties
Purpose Thermoresponsive hydrogels are gels which have different properties at varying temperatures. The objective of this study was to assess the material characteristics, imaging properties and chemotherapeutic drug release profile of a novel radiopaque thermoresponsive hydrogel in vitro, which is liquid at room temperature but solidifies at body temperature, to determine potential suitability for intratumoural delivery. Materials and Methods An iodinated radiopaque thermoresponsive hydrogel was formulated using iodixanol at a range of concentrations and assessed for sol–gel transition, radiopacity and imaging using CT and US. A lead formulation containing iodixanol at a concentration of 9.22% weight by weight (w/w, g of iodixanol per g of hydrogel) was evaluated in vitro for injectability, disintegration and dual drug release of cisplatin and paclitaxel from the hydrogel formulation. Results Radiopacity of the hydrogel increased in a concentration- dependent manner, but the highest concentration of iodixanol evaluated in this study (13.83% w/w) adversely affected the sol–gel transition of the hydrogel; therefore, 9.22% w/w iodixanol hydrogel was identified as the lead formulation. This formulation was readily visible on both CT and US. The formulation was hand injectable through a range of clinically relevant devices, had a sustained disintegration profile for up to 28 days and was able to deliver a sustained release of chemotherapeutic drug for up to 10 days. Conclusions Favourable in vitro and ex vivo imaging and material characteristics of this thermoresponsive gel are demonstrated, suggesting potential interventional oncology applications for image-guided intratumoural delivery of sustained-release chemotherapy
A Framework for Implementing Machine Learning on Omics Data
The potential benefits of applying machine learning methods to -omics data
are becoming increasingly apparent, especially in clinical settings. However,
the unique characteristics of these data are not always well suited to machine
learning techniques. These data are often generated across different
technologies in different labs, and frequently with high dimensionality. In
this paper we present a framework for combining -omics data sets, and for
handling high dimensional data, making -omics research more accessible to
machine learning applications. We demonstrate the success of this framework
through integration and analysis of multi-analyte data for a set of 3,533
breast cancers. We then use this data-set to predict breast cancer patient
survival for individuals at risk of an impending event, with higher accuracy
and lower variance than methods trained on individual data-sets. We hope that
our pipelines for data-set generation and transformation will open up -omics
data to machine learning researchers. We have made these freely available for
noncommercial use at www.ccg.ai.Comment: Machine Learning for Health (ML4H) Workshop at NeurIPS 2018
arXiv:1811.0721
The intramitochondrial dynamin-related GTPase, Mgm1p, is a component of a protein complex that mediates mitochondrial fusion
Abalance between fission and fusion events determines the morphology of mitochondria. In yeast, mitochondrial fission is regulated by the outer membrane–associated dynamin-related GTPase, Dnm1p. Mitochondrial fusion requires two integral outer membrane components, Fzo1p and Ugo1p. Interestingly, mutations in a second mitochondrial-associated dynamin-related GTPase, Mgm1p, produce similar phenotypes to fzo1 and ugo cells. Specifically, mutations in MGM1 cause mitochondrial fragmentation and a loss of mitochondrial DNA that are suppressed by abolishing DNM1-dependent fission. In contrast to fzo1ts mutants, blocking DNM1-dependent fission restores mitochondrial fusion in mgm1ts cells during mating. Here we show that blocking DNM1-dependent fission in Δmgm1 cells fails to restore mitochondrial fusion during mating. To examine the role of Mgm1p in mitochondrial fusion, we looked for molecular interactions with known fusion components. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that Mgm1p is associated with both Ugo1p and Fzo1p in mitochondria, and that Ugo1p and Fzo1p also are associated with each other. In addition, genetic analysis of specific mgm1 alleles indicates that Mgm1p's GTPase and GTPase effector domains are required for its ability to promote mitochondrial fusion and that Mgm1p self-interacts, suggesting that it functions in fusion as a self-assembling GTPase. Mgm1p's localization within mitochondria has been controversial. Using protease protection and immuno-EM, we have shown previously that Mgm1p localizes to the intermembrane space, associated with the inner membrane. To further test our conclusions, we have used a novel method using the tobacco etch virus protease and confirm that Mgm1p is present in the intermembrane space compartment in vivo. Taken together, these data suggest a model where Mgm1p functions in fusion to remodel the inner membrane and to connect the inner membrane to the outer membrane via its interactions with Ugo1p and Fzo1p, thereby helping to coordinate the behavior of the four mitochondrial membranes during fusion
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