Biogenic 2‐methyl‐3‐buten‐2‐ol increases regional ozone and HO x sources

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95042/1/grl23505.pd

A Process for Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children

There is a growing interest in the potential for technology to facilitate emergency education of refugee children. However, designing in this space requires knowledge of the displaced population and the contextual dynamics surrounding it. Design should therefore be informed by both existing research across relevant disciplines, and from the practical experience of those who are on the ground facing the problem in real life. This paper describes a process for designing appropriate technology for these settings. The process draws on literature from emergency education, student engagement and motivation, educational technology, and participatory design. We emphasise a thorough understanding of the problem definition, the nature of the emergency, and of socio-cultural aspects that can inform the design process. We describe how this process was implemented leading to the design of a digital learning space for children living in a refugee camp in Greece. This drew on involving different groups of participants such as social-workers, parents, and children

Calmodulin-dependent nuclear import of HMG-box family nuclear factors: importance of the role of SRY in sex reversal

The HMG (high-mobility group)-box-containing chromatin-remodelling factor SRY (sex-determining region on the Y chromosome) plays a key role in sex determination. Its role in the nucleus is critically dependent on two NLSs (nuclear localization signals) that flank its HMG domain: the C-terminally located ‘β-NLS’ that mediates nuclear transport through Impβ1 (importin β1) and the N-terminally located ‘CaM-NLS’ which is known to recognize the calcium-binding protein CaM (calmodulin). In the present study, we examined a number of missense mutations in the SRY CaM-NLS from human XY sex-reversed females for the first time, showing that they result in significantly reduced nuclear localization of GFP (green fluorescent protein)–SRY fusion proteins in transfected cells compared with wild-type. The CaM antagonist CDZ (calmidazolium chloride) was found to significantly reduce wild-type SRY nuclear accumulation, indicating dependence of SRY nuclear import on CaM. Intriguingly, the CaM-NLS mutants were all resistant to CDZ's effects, implying a loss of interaction with CaM, which was confirmed by direct binding experiments. CaM-binding/resultant nuclear accumulation was the only property of SRY found to be impaired by two of the CaM-NLS mutations, implying that inhibition of CaM-dependent nuclear import is the basis of sex reversal in these cases. Importantly, the CaM-NLS is conserved in other HMG-box-domain-containing proteins such as SOX-2, -9, -10 and HMGN1, all of which were found for the first time to rely on CaM for optimal nuclear localization. CaM-dependent nuclear translocation is thus a common mechanism for this family of important transcription factors

Total, regional and unilateral body composition of professional English first-class cricket fast bowlers

There have been few reports of advanced body composition profiles of elite fast bowlers in the sport of cricket. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to determine total, regional and unilateral body composition characteristics of elite English first-class cricket fast bowlers in comparison with matched controls, using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Twelve male fast bowlers and 12 age-matched, non-athletic controls received one total-body DXA scan. Anthropometric data were obtained as well as left and right regional (arms, legs and trunk) fat mass, lean mass and bone mineral content. Fast bowlers were significantly taller and heavier than controls (P<0.05). Relative to body mass, fast bowlers possessed greater lean mass in the trunk (80.9±3.7 vs. 76.7±5.9%; P=0.047) and bone mineral content in the trunk (2.9±0.3 vs. 2.6±0.3%; P=0.049) and legs (5.4±0.5 vs. 4.6±0.6%; P=0.003). In the arm region, fast bowlers demonstrated significantly greater unilateral differences in bone mineral content (10.6±6.6 vs. 4.5±3.9%; P=0.012). This study provides specific body composition values for elite-level fast bowlers and highlights the potential for muscle and bone imbalances that may be useful for conditioning professionals. Our findings also suggest beneficial adaptations in body composition and bone mass in fast bowlers compared with their non-athletic counterparts

VOC reactivity in central California: comparing an air quality model to ground-based measurements

International audienceVolatile organic compound (VOC) reactivity in central California is examined using a photochemical air quality model (the Community Multiscale Air Quality model; CMAQ) and ground-based measurements to evaluate the contribution of VOC to photochemical activity. We classify VOC into four categories: anthropogenic, biogenic, aldehyde, and other oxygenated VOC. Anthropogenic and biogenic VOC consist of primary emissions, while aldehydes and other oxygenated VOC include both primary anthropogenic emissions and secondary products from primary VOC oxidation. To evaluate the model treatment of VOC chemistry, we compare calculated and modeled OH and VOC reactivities using the following metrics: 1) cumulative distribution functions of NO_x concentration and VOC reactivity (R_OH,VOC), 2) the relationship between R_OH,VOC and NO_x, 3) total OH reactivity (R_OH,total) and speciated contributions, and 4) the relationship between speciated R_OH,VOC and NO_x. We find that the model predicts R_OH,total to within 25?40% at three sites representing urban (Sacramento), suburban (Granite Bay) and rural (Blodgett Forest) chemistry. However in the urban area of Fresno, the model under predicts NO_x and VOC emissions by a factor of 2?3. At all locations the model is consistent with observations of the relative contributions of total VOC. In urban areas, anthropogenic and biogenic R_OH,VOC are predicted fairly well over a range of NO_x conditions. In suburban and rural locations, anthropogenic and other oxygenated R_OH,VOC relationships are reproduced, but calculated biogenic and aldehyde R_OH,VOC are often poorly characterized by measurements, making evaluation of the model with available data unreliable. In central California, 30?50% of the modeled urban VOC reactivity is due to aldehydes and other oxygenated species, and the total oxygenated R_OH,VOC is nearly equivalent to anthropogenic VOC reactivity. In rural vegetated regions, biogenic and aldehyde reactivity dominates. This indicates that more attention needs to be paid to the accuracy of models and measurements of both primary emissions of oxygenated VOC and secondary production of oxygenates, especially formaldehyde and other aldehydes, and that a more comprehensive set of oxygenated VOC measurements is required to include all of the important contributions to atmospheric reactivity

Patient Experiences of Continuity of Cancer Care: Development of a new Medical Care Questionnaire (MCQ) for Oncology Outpatients

Objectives: To adapt the Components of Primary Care Index (CPCI) to be applicable to oncology outpatients and to assess the reliability and validity of the adapted instrument (renamed the Medical Care Questionnaire (MCQ)). Methods: The development and validation of the MCQ took place in four phases. Phase 1 reviewed the literature and examined existing measures. In Phase 2 the selected instrument (CPCI) was reviewed by a panel of experts using a stepwise consensus procedure. In Phase 3 the adapted 21-item MCQ was administered to 200 outpatients attending oncology appointments. The instrument was refined to 15-items and in Phase 4 it was completed by 477 oncology outpatients. The psychometric properties of the new instrument were assessed using exploratory factor analysis, multi-trait scaling analysis and by comparing MCQ scores between known groups. Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the 15-item MCQ suggested 3 subscales with acceptable to good reliability: “Communication” α=0.69; “Coordination” α=0.84; and “Preferences” α=0.75. Comparing known groups showed that patients who saw fewer doctors during their clinic visits reported stronger “Preferences” to see their usual doctor and rated “Communication” with their doctors as better than patients who saw more doctors during their clinic visits. Conclusion: The MCQ demonstrates good psychometric properties in the target population. It is a brief and simple to use instrument, which provides a valid perspective on patients’ experiences of communicating with doctors and their perceptions of the continuity and coordination of their cancer care. Patient Experiences of Continuity of Cancer Care: Development of a new Medical Care Questionnaire (MCQ) for Oncology Outpatient

Psychiatric and cognitive phenotype in children and adolescents with myotonic dystrophy

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most frequent inherited neuromuscular disorder. The juvenile form has been associated with cognitive and psychiatric dysfunction, but the phenotype remains unclear. We reviewed the literature to examine the psychiatric phenotype of juvenile DM1 and performed an admixture analysis of the IQ distribution of our own patients, as we hypothesised a bimodal distribution. Two-thirds of the patients had at least one DSM-IV diagnosis, mainly attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder. Two-thirds had learning disabilities comorbid with mental retardation on one hand, but also attention deficit, low cognitive speed and visual spatial impairment on the other. IQ showed a bi-modal distribution and was associated with parental transmission. The psychiatric phenotype in juvenile DM1 is complex. We distinguished two different phenotypic subtypes: one group characterised by mental retardation, severe developmental delay and maternal transmission; and another group characterised by borderline full scale IQ, subnormal development and paternal transmission

Balancing end-to-end budgets of the Georges Bank ecosystem

Author Posting. © Elsevier, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Progress In Oceanography 74 (2007): 423-448, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2007.05.003.Oceanographic regimes on the continental shelf display a great range in the time scales of physical exchange, biochemical processes and trophic transfers. The close surface-to-seabed physical coupling at intermediate scales of weeks to months means that the open ocean simplification to a purely pelagic food web is inadequate. Top-down trophic depictions, starting from the fish populations, are insufficient to constrain a system involving extensive nutrient recycling at lower trophic levels and subject to physical forcing as well as fishing. These pelagic-benthic interactions are found on all continental shelves but are particularly important on the relatively shallow Georges Bank in the northwest Atlantic. We have generated budgets for the lower food web for three physical regimes (well mixed, transitional and stratified) and for three seasons (spring, summer and fall/winter). The calculations show that vertical mixing and lateral exchange between the three regimes are important for zooplankton production as well as for nutrient input. Benthic suspension feeders are an additional critical pathway for transfers to higher trophic levels. Estimates of production by mesozooplankton, benthic suspension feeders and deposit feeders, derived primarily from data collected during the GLOBEC years of 1995-1999, provide input to an upper food web. Diets of commercial fish populations are used to calculate food requirements in three fish categories, planktivores, benthivores and piscivores, for four decades, 1963-2002, between which there were major changes in the fish communities. Comparisons of inputs from the lower web with fish energetic requirements for plankton and benthos indicate that we obtained reasonable agreement for the last three decades, 1973 to 2002. However, for the first decade, the fish food requirements were significantly less than the inputs. This decade, 1963-1972, corresponds to a period characterized by a strong Labrador Current and lower nitrate levels at the shelf edge, demonstrating how strong bottom-up physical forcing may determine overall fish yields.The research was done under the aegis of the U.S.-GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic Georges Bank Study, a program sponsored jointly by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We acknowledge NOAA-CICOR award NA17RJ1233 (J.H. Steele), NSF awards OCE0217399 (D.J. Gifford), OCE0217122 (J.J. Bisagni) and OCE0217257 (M.E. Sieracki). W.T. Stockhausen was supported by the NOAA Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research Program

Cell Proliferation in the Presence of Telomerase

BACKGROUND: Telomerase, which is active early in development and later in stem and germline cells, is also active in the majority of human cancers. One of the known functions of telomerase is to extend the ends of linear chromosomes, countering their gradual shortening at each cell division due to the end replication problem and postreplication processing. Telomerase concentration levels vary between different cell types as well as between different tumors. In addition variable telomerase concentrations will exist in different cells in the same tumor when telomerase inhibitors are used, because of limitations of drug delivery in tissue. Telomerase extends short telomeres more frequently than long telomeres and the relation between the extension frequency and the telomere length is nonlinear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, the biological data of the nonlinear telomerase-telomere dynamics is incorporated in a mathematical theory to relate the proliferative potential of a cell to the telomerase concentration in that cell. The main result of the paper is that the proliferative capacity of a cell grows exponentially with the telomerase concentration. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The theory presented here suggests that long term telomerase inhibition in every cancer progenitor or cancer stem cell is needed for successful telomere targeted cancer treatment. This theory also can be used to plan and assess the results of clinical trials targeting telomerase

Conducting Mode 2 research in HRM : a phase-based framework

Recent studies in the field of human resource management (HRM) have highlighted that current research is mostly performed and consumed by academics, and is driven by theoretical and disciplinary concerns rather than practical ones. This debate has invoked the need to produce more Mode 2 research in the HRM field, that is, research driven by practical problems that integrate collaborative efforts by academics and practitioners. Yet, guidelines on how academics and practitioners may implement Mode 2 research remain disjointed and incomplete. Our study provides a phase‐based collaborative‐based framework for the implementation of Mode 2 research in the HRM field, in ways that both academic rigor and practical relevance are achieved. Our framework is informed by a comprehensive review of previous Mode 2 research, within and outside the HRM field. The proposed framework details four macro‐phases: the codevelopment of research questions with practitioners; the design of collaborative spaces and mechanisms; the design and management of double‐loop iterative research processes; and finally the academic and practice legitimization of Mode 2 outcomes. Our framework has the objective to support HRM researchers and practitioners, as well as relevant institutions and gatekeepers in the design, implementation, education, and assessment of Mode 2 research