A study of the differences in the kinetic properties of human creatine kinase isoenzymes.

Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1983 .C565. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1983

Narrowing the Universe: A Machine Learning Approach to Patent Clearance

Companies cannot reliably predict which patents are likely to be asserted against them. If they could, they would be better able to quantify and mitigate their own patent infringement risk. We used machine learning methods, informed by legal scholars’ understanding of relevant patent traits, to improve on prior attempts to predict litigation. We built primarily on Colleen Chien’s Predicting Patent Litigation. Chien used traits from a patent’s legal history and developed a method of prediction based on the traits acquired before litigation, but not after. She demonstrated that the traits acquired before litigation are useful predictors. Evaluating Chien’s approach, we determined that her logistic regression model was generalizable—that is, not overfit to her training sample—though it does not perform as well on real datasets as her matched-pairs evaluation suggested. We found that year-over-year changes in patenting and litigation will hinder real-world prediction with this approach, but only modestly. Building a much larger dataset of newer patents, and selecting machine learning models tailored to the task, we improved on Chien’s results. Our random forest model had a 7.8% greater area under the precision-recall curve, and it could allow a company to narrow its patent clearance search to a set of patents up to 34% smaller, compared to Chien’s logistic regression approach. We report our results on a random sample of patents using standardized metrics, providing a baseline for future work predicting patent litigation

Flora of Singapore: Checklist and bibliography

A checklist of all species of bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms that are found in the wild (native, naturalised and casual) in Singapore is presented. We have attempted to account for all names of species and infraspecific taxa that have ever been recorded for Singapore, along with the pertinent publications that reported each of these names. For each currently accepted name, the synonyms of relevance for Singapore are included. The native or non-native status for all taxa is given, along with the most recent national conservation assessment applied to each native taxon. If we were aware that the most recent assessment required an update, the taxon is newly assessed here. The checklist includes 2654 native taxa, 479 naturalised/casual taxa and 101 cryptogenic taxa

Goal-setting participation and goal commitment: examining the mediating roles of procedural fairness and interpersonal trust in a UK financial services organisation

This study investigates whether participation in goal-setting within performance measurement and evaluation processes affects goal commitment and if so, whether the effect is mediated by procedural fairness and interpersonal trust. Using a sample of 54 managers within a UK financial services organisation, this study finds that participation in goal-setting is positively associated with goal commitment. Further analysis arising from introducing procedural fairness and interpersonal trust as mediating variables reveals that the association is significantly mediated by procedural fairness. Overall, these findings offer empirical evidence on the importance of procedural fairness on the relationship between participation and goal commitment

What Matters to Us:Impact of Telemedicine During the Pandemic in the Care of Patients With Sarcoma Across Scotland

In Scotland, approximately 350 sarcoma cases are diagnosed per year and treated in one of the five specialist centers. Many patients are required to travel long distances to access specialist care. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a number of rapid changes into the care for patients with cancer, with increasing utilization of telemedicine. We aimed to evaluate how the utilization of telemedicine affects professionals and patients across Scotland and care delivery, at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre Sarcoma Unit. Between June 8 and August 25, 2020, we invited patients and professional sarcoma multidisciplinary team members to participate in separate online anonymous survey questionnaires, to assess their attitudes toward telemedicine. Data were extracted, and descriptive statistics were performed. Patient satisfaction (n = 64) with telemedicine was high (mean = 9.4/10) and comparable with traditional face-to-face appointments (mean = 9.5/10). Patients were receptive to the use of telemedicine in certain situations, with patients strongly opposed to being told bad news via telemedicine (88%). Providers recommended the use of telemedicine in certain patient populations and reported largely equivalent workloads when compared with traditional consultations. Providers reported that telemedicine should be integrated into regular practice (66%), with patients echoing this indicating a preference for a majority of telemedicine appointments (57%). Telemedicine in sarcoma care is favorable from both clinician and patient perspectives. Utilization of telemedicine for patients with rare cancers such as sarcomas is an innovative approach to the delivery of care, especially considering the time and financial pressures on patients who often live a distance away from specialist centers. Patients and providers are keen to move toward a more flexible, mixed system of care

Multi-modal characterization and simulation of human epileptic circuitry

Temporal lobe epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder with about 40% of patients not responding to pharmacological treatment. Increased cellular loss in the hippocampus is linked to disease severity and pathological phenotypes such as heightened seizure propensity. While the hippocampus is the target of therapeutic interventions such as temporal lobe resection, the impact of the disease at the cellular level remains unclear in humans. Here we show that properties of hippocampal granule cells change with disease progression as measured in living, resected hippocampal tissue excised from epilepsy patients. We show that granule cells increase excitability and shorten response latency while also enlarging in cellular volume, surface area and spine density. Single-cell RNA sequencing combined with simulations ascribe the observed electrophysiological changes to gradual modification in three key ion channel conductances: BK, Cav2.2 and Kir2.1. In a bio-realistic computational network model, we show that the changes related to disease progression bring the circuit into a more excitable state. In turn, we observe that by reversing these changes in the three key conductances produces a less excitable, early disease-like state. These results provide mechanistic understanding of epilepsy in humans and will inform future therapies such as viral gene delivery to reverse the course of the disorder

Endemic, endangered, and evolutionarily significant: Cryptic lineages in Seychelles’ frogs

Cryptic diversity that corresponds with island origin has been previously reported in the endemic, geographically restricted sooglossid frogs of the Seychelles archipelago. The evolutionary pattern has not been fully explored, and given current amphibian declines and the increased extinction risk faced by island species, we sought to identify evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) to address conservation concerns for these highly threatened anurans. We obtained genetic data for two mitochondrial (mtDNA) and four nuclear (nuDNA) genes from all known populations of sooglossid frog (the islands of Mahé, Praslin, and Silhouette) to perform phylogenetic analyses and construct nuDNA haplotype networks. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of mtDNA support monophyly and molecular differentiation of populations in all species that occur on multiple islands. Haplotype networks using statistical parsimony revealed multiple high-frequency haplotypes shared between islands and taxa, in addition to numerous geographically distinct (island-specific) haplotypes for each species. We consider each island-specific population of sooglossid frog as an ESU and advise conservation managers to do likewise. Furthermore, our results identify each island lineage as a candidate species, evidence for which is supported by Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes analyses of mtDNA, and independent analyses of mtDNA and nuDNA using the multispecies coalescent. Our findings add to the growing understanding of the biogeography and hidden diversity within this globally important region

Application of Cystatin C Reduction Ratio to High-Flux Hemodialysis as an Alternative Indicator of the Clearance of Middle Molecules

Background/Aims: Although high-flux (HF) dialyzers with enhanced membrane permeability are widely used in current hemodialysis (HD) practice, urea kinetic modeling is still being applied to indicate the adequacy of both low-flux (LF) and HF HD. In comparison with urea (molecular weight, 60 Da) and ??2-microglobulin (??2MG, 12 kDa), cystatin C (CyC, 13 kDa) is a larger molecule that has attractive features as a marker for assessing solute clearance. We postulated that CyC might be an alternative for indicating the clearance of middle molecules (MMs), especially with HF HD. Methods: Eighty-nine patients were divided into LF and HF groups. Using single pool urea kinetic modeling, the urea reduction ratio (URR) and equilibrated Kt/Vurea (eKt /Vurea) were calculated. The serum CyC concentrations were measured using particle-enhanced immunonephelometry. As indices of the middle molecular clearance, the reduction ratios of ??2MG and CyC were calculated. Results: The ??2MG reduction ratio (??2MGRR) and CyC reduction ratio (CyCRR) were higher in the HF group compared to the LF group. However, the URR and eKt/Vurea did not differ between the two groups. The CyCRR was significantly correlated with the eKt/Vurea and ??2MGRR (r = 0.47 and 0.69, respectively, both p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Compared to the LF dialyzer, the HF dialyzer removed CyC and ??2MG more efficiently. Unlike the ??2MGRR, the CyCRR was correlated with the eKt/Vurea and ??2MGRR. This study suggests a role for the CyCRR as an alternative indicator of the removal of MMs

Plant Antimicrobial Agents and Their Effects on Plant and Human Pathogens

To protect themselves, plants accumulate an armoury of antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Some metabolites represent constitutive chemical barriers to microbial attack (phytoanticipins) and others inducible antimicrobials (phytoalexins). They are extensively studied as promising plant and human disease-controlling agents. This review discusses the bioactivity of several phytoalexins and phytoanticipins defending plants against fungal and bacterial aggressors and those with antibacterial activities against pathogens affecting humans such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus involved in respiratory infections of cystic fibrosis patients. The utility of plant products as “antibiotic potentiators” and “virulence attenuators” is also described as well as some biotechnological applications in phytoprotection