First Year Student Success Initiative: Academic Support Services Working Group Report

Report from the Academic Support Services Working Group in response to the charge to: “Develop a set of recommendations about ways that student academic support services can better serve first-year students.” The report includes five recommendations for integrated academic supports

Asteroid photometry and lightcurve analysis at Gora's Observatories, Part IV

Synodic rotation periods and amplitudes are reported for: 424 Gratia, 579 Sidonia, 589 Croatia, 693 Zerbinetta, 791 Ani, 824 Anastasia, 858 El Djezair, 1024 Hale, 1271 Isergina, 1663 van den Bos.Fil: Colazo, Milagros Rita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba. Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental; Argentina. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Stechina, Ariel. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Fornari, César. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Néstor. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Melia, Raúl. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Morales, Mario. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Bellocchio, Ezequiel. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Pulver, Eduardo. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Speranza, Tiago. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Scotta, Damián. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Wilberger, Aldo. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Mottino, Aldo Domingo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Meza, Erick. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Fabricio. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Tourne Passarino, Patricio. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Suligoy, Matias. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Llanos, Ricardo. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Chapman, Andrés. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Martini, Matias. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; ArgentinaFil: Colazo, Carlos. Grupo de Observadores de Rotaciones de Asteroides; Argentin

Human-mediated dispersal and the rewiring of spatial networks

Humans fundamentally affect dispersal, directly by transporting individuals and indirectly by altering landscapes and natural vectors. This human-mediated dispersal (HMD) modifies long-distance dispersal, changes dispersal paths, and overall benefits certain species or genotypes while disadvantaging others. HMD is leading to radical changes in the structure and functioning of spatial networks, which are likely to intensify as human activities increase in scope and extent. Here, we provide an overview to guide research into HMD and the resulting rewiring of spatial networks, making predictions about the ecological and evolutionary consequences and how these vary according to spatial scale and the traits of species. Future research should consider HMD holistically, assessing the range of direct and indirect processes to understand the complex impacts on eco-evolutionary dynamics

Analysis of baseline parameters in the HALT polycystic kidney disease trials

HALT PKD consists of two ongoing randomized trials with the largest cohort of systematically studied patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease to date. Study A will compare combined treatment with an angiotensin-converting inhibitor and receptor blocker to inhibitor alone and standard compared with low blood pressure targets in 558 early-stage disease patients with an eGFR over 60ml/min per 1.73m2. Study B will compare inhibitor-blocker treatment to the inhibitor alone in 486 late-stage patients with eGFR 25–60ml/min per 1.73m2. We used correlation and multiple regression cross-sectional analyses to determine associations of baseline parameters with total kidney, liver, or liver cyst volumes measured by MRI in Study A and eGFR in both studies. Lower eGFR and higher natural log-transformed urine albumin excretion were independently associated with a larger natural log–transformed total kidney volume adjusted for height (ln(HtTKV)). Higher body surface area was independently associated with a higher ln(HtTKV) and lower eGFR. Men had larger height-adjusted total kidney volume and smaller liver cyst volumes than women. A weak correlation was found between the ln(HtTKV) and natural log–transformed total liver volume adjusted for height or natural log liver cyst volume in women only. Women had higher urine aldosterone excretion and lower plasma potassium. Thus, our analysis (1) confirms a strong association between renal volume and functional parameters, (2) shows that gender and other factors differentially affect the development of polycystic disease in the kidney and liver, and (3) suggests an association between anthropomorphic measures reflecting prenatal and/or postnatal growth and disease severity

The 3rd DBCLS BioHackathon: improving life science data integration with Semantic Web technologies.

BACKGROUND: BioHackathon 2010 was the third in a series of meetings hosted by the Database Center for Life Sciences (DBCLS) in Tokyo, Japan. The overall goal of the BioHackathon series is to improve the quality and accessibility of life science research data on the Web by bringing together representatives from public databases, analytical tool providers, and cyber-infrastructure researchers to jointly tackle important challenges in the area of in silico biological research. RESULTS: The theme of BioHackathon 2010 was the 'Semantic Web', and all attendees gathered with the shared goal of producing Semantic Web data from their respective resources, and/or consuming or interacting those data using their tools and interfaces. We discussed on topics including guidelines for designing semantic data and interoperability of resources. We consequently developed tools and clients for analysis and visualization. CONCLUSION: We provide a meeting report from BioHackathon 2010, in which we describe the discussions, decisions, and breakthroughs made as we moved towards compliance with Semantic Web technologies - from source provider, through middleware, to the end-consumer.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Association between T2-related co-morbidities and effectiveness of biologics in severe asthma

Acknowledgments The authors thank Mr. Joash Tan (BSc, Hons), of the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI), and Ms Andrea Lim (BSc, Hons) of the Observational Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI) for their editorial and formatting assistance that supported the development of this publication. Funding statement: This study was conducted by the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute (OPRI) Pte Ltd and was partially funded by Optimum Patient Care Global and AstraZeneca Ltd. AstraZeneca UK LimitedPeer reviewe

Pros and cons of different therapeutic antibody formats for recombinant antivenom development.

Antibody technologies are being increasingly applied in the field of toxinology. Fuelled by the many advances in immunology, synthetic biology, and antibody research, different approaches and antibody formats are being investigated for the ability to neutralize animal toxins. These different molecular formats each have their own therapeutic characteristics. In this review, we provide an overview of the advances made in the development of toxin-targeting antibodies, and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different antibody formats in relation to their ability to neutralize toxins, pharmacokinetic features, propensity to cause adverse reactions, formulation, and expression for research and development (R&D) purposes and large-scale manufacturing. A research trend seems to be emerging towards the use of human antibody formats as well as camelid heavy-domain antibody fragments due to their compatibility with the human immune system, beneficial therapeutic properties, and the ability to manufacture these molecules cost-effectively

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570