ARID3B increases ovarian tumor burden and is associated with a cancer stem cell gene signature

Ovarian cancer is the most deadly gynecological malignancy since most patients have metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. Therefore, identification of critical pathways that contribute to ovarian cancer progression is necessary to yield novel therapeutic targets. Recently we reported that the DNA binding protein ARID3B is overexpressed in human ovarian tumors. To determine if ARID3B has oncogenic functions in vivo, ovarian cancer cell lines stably expressing ARID3B were injected intraperitoneally into nude mice. Overexpression of ARID3B increased tumor burden and decreased survival. To assess how ARID3B contributes to the increased tumor growth in vivo, we identified ARID3B induced genes in tumor ascites cells. ARID3B induced expression of genes associated with metastasis and cancer stem cells (CD44, LGR5, PROM1 (CD133), and Notch2). Moreover, ARID3B increased the number of CD133+ (a cancer stem cell marker) cells compared to control cells. The increase in CD133+ cells resulting from ARID3B expression was accompanied by enhanced paclitaxel resistance. Our data demonstrate that ARID3B boosts production CD133+ cells and increases ovarian cancer progression in vivo

Enrichment for chemoresistant ovarian cancer stem cells from human cell lines

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as a subset of slow cycling and undifferentiated cells that divide asymmetrically to generate highly proliferative, invasive, and chemoresistant tumor cells. Therefore, CSCs are an attractive population of cells to target therapeutically. CSCs are predicted to contribute to a number of types of malignancies including those in the blood, brain, lung, gastrointestinal tract, prostate, and ovary. Isolating and enriching a tumor cell population for CSCs will enable researchers to study the properties, genetics, and therapeutic response of CSCs. We generated a protocol that reproducibly enriches for ovarian cancer CSCs from ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and OVCA429). Cell lines are treated with 20 µM cisplatin for 3 days. Surviving cells are isolated and cultured in a serum-free stem cell media containing cytokines and growth factors. We demonstrate an enrichment of these purified CSCs by analyzing the isolated cells for known stem cell markers Oct4, Nanog, and Prom1 (CD133) and cell surface expression of CD177 and CD133. The CSCs exhibit increased chemoresistance. This method for isolation of CSCs is a useful tool for studying the role of CSCs in chemoresistance and tumor relapse

Multi-color Cavity Metrology

Long baseline laser interferometers used for gravitational wave detection have proven to be very complicated to control. In order to have sufficient sensitivity to astrophysical gravitational waves, a set of multiple coupled optical cavities comprising the interferometer must be brought into resonance with the laser field. A set of multi-input, multi-output servos then lock these cavities into place via feedback control. This procedure, known as lock acquisition, has proven to be a vexing problem and has reduced greatly the reliability and duty factor of the past generation of laser interferometers. In this article, we describe a technique for bringing the interferometer from an uncontrolled state into resonance by using harmonically related external fields to provide a deterministic hierarchical control. This technique reduces the effect of the external seismic disturbances by four orders of magnitude and promises to greatly enhance the stability and reliability of the current generation of gravitational wave detector. The possibility for using multi-color techniques to overcome current quantum and thermal noise limits is also discussed

Assessing effectiveness of communication and collaboration platforms at USMAI partner campuses

The USMAI library consortium — originally formed to capitalize on cooperative resource sharing — provides partner institutions with a knowledge-sharing network and a pool of talented, insightful collaborators. By combining a range of perspectives, practices, and localized expertise, consortial partners have become better equipped to address the individual needs of their campus community while also gaining increased library domain knowledge through collaborative engagement and collegial correspondence. While acknowledging this noble mission, the authors of this proposal posed a question to the USMAI consortium: do the communication and collaboration platforms used among consortial partners help enhance this aim, or do they rather serve as a stumbling block to an otherwise motivated community of peers? During the summer and fall of 2016, the project team conducted a series of surveys, meetings, and focus groups to determine the effectiveness of the variety of tools available to the consortium for communication and collaboration purposes, such as the USMAI web sites, web conferencing platforms (e.g., GoToMeeting), and the USMAICollaborates Google site. In this presentation, the project team will describe the motivating factors for this assessment, an overview of the planning and execution of our data collection activities, and a report of our findings on the user assessment of tool effectiveness and usability. The authors will also lay out a series of recommendations for enhanced platform development that have been submitted to the USMAI executive leadership and the Council of Library Directors

Evaluation of Trends in Diabetes Care in a Patient-centered Medical Home

Background: The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a model used in primary care to achieve effective management of chronic diseases. The Augusta University Health Family Medicine Center (AUFMC), a PCMH recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, has implemented strategies to manage its patient population with diabetes. The present study evaluated the effects of these interventions through trend analysis of selected diabetic core measures by use of a qualified clinical data registry, the Practice Partner Research Network. Methods: For this retrospective study, de-identified data were abstracted for adult patients with diabetes for the period of 2013-2015. Process and outcome measures were determined for selected diabetic core measures, based on the 2015 American Diabetes Association and Physician Quality Reporting System of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS). These measures included glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), urine microalbumin (Um), diabetic foot and eye exams, and influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations. These values were analyzed by the CochranArmitage test for trends over time to determine the proportions of patients at the recommended goals. Results: Over time, there were increasing trends for patients who were at the goals for frequencies of HbA1c, Um, LDL, pneumococcal vaccinations, and diabetic retinal exams. Conclusions: Since AUFMC achieved PCMH recognition status, efforts to improve the management of patients with diabetes have yielded positive outcomes and valuable lessons. Areas of strength include utilization of the diabetes registry, education by regular providers, tailored use of electronic health records for patient education and physician documentation, and appropriate utilization of all team members. Trend analysis indicated that targeted diabetic interventions contributed to improved outcomes in selected diabetic core measures

Paper Session I-D - An Interdisciplinary Student Payload to Perform Space Based Remote Sensing and to Measure Microgravity and Radiation Effects

Broward Community College and Brevard Community College with support from the Boeing Company-KSC, the Florida Space Institute, Texas A&M University and the Association of Small Payload Researchers (ASPR) will fly 3 remote sensing, 3 microgravity 2 radiation measurement experiments and 1 genotoxicology experiment in a Get Away Special (GAS) container through NASA’s GAS payload program. Students from fields as diverse as Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, Electrical, Computer and Mechanical Engineering, Astronomy, Marine Science, and Environmental Science will benefit from involvement in every level of design, fabrication, testing, calibration, and data analysis. Three earth viewing remote sensing experiments will include a hyperspectral imaging holographic Fourier transform spectrometer, a high radiometric accuracy narrow band 4 channel discrete radiometer, and a 3 channel high spatial resolution imager. Three microgravity experiments involve crystal growth: Calcium Tartrate crystals will be grown using a gel and diffusion method. Carbon dioxide will be combined with dimethylamine to form crystals. CuInSe thin films will be electro-deposited from aqueous solution. Three radiation experiments include: A genotoxicology experiment to determine the degree to which DNA from man, chicken, fish, and plants, is damaged by exposure to cosmic radiation. Cosmic ray background intensity will be monitored using a standard Geiger tube. A separate module will record the path and intensity of cosmic rays as they pass through shielded photographic emulsions. The importance of interdisciplinary training is fundamental to this payload and to the teaching of the natural sciences. This innovative student oriented project will payoff not only in new science data, but also in accomplishing training for the next generation of environmental and space scientists

Discovering transcriptional modules by Bayesian data integration

Motivation: We present a method for directly inferring transcriptional modules (TMs) by integrating gene expression and transcription factor binding (ChIP-chip) data. Our model extends a hierarchical Dirichlet process mixture model to allow data fusion on a gene-by-gene basis. This encodes the intuition that co-expression and co-regulation are not necessarily equivalent and hence we do not expect all genes to group similarly in both datasets. In particular, it allows us to identify the subset of genes that share the same structure of transcriptional modules in both datasets. Results: We find that by working on a gene-by-gene basis, our model is able to extract clusters with greater functional coherence than existing methods. By combining gene expression and transcription factor binding (ChIP-chip) data in this way, we are better able to determine the groups of genes that are most likely to represent underlying TMs

Dications of 3-Phenyl-indenylidene Dibenzo[ a.d ]cycloheptene: The Role of Charge in the Antiaromaticity of Cationic Systems

Dications of 9-(3-phenyl-1H-inden-1-ylidene)-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene, 52+, were prepared by oxidation with SbF5 in SO2ClF, and their magnetic behavior was compared to dications of 9-(3-phenyl-1H-inden-1-ylidene)-9H-fluorene, 22+. The good correlation between the experimental 1H NMR shifts for the dications that were oxidized cleanly and the chemical shifts calculated by the GAIO method supported the use of the nucleus independent chemical shifts, NICS, to evaluate the antiaromaticity of the indenyl systems of 22+/52+ and their unsubstituted parent compounds, 62+ and 72+, as well as the antiaromaticity of the fluorenyl system of 22+/72+ and the aromaticity of the dibenzotropylium system of 52+/62+. Antiaromaticity was shown to be directly related to the amount of charge in the antiaromatic systems, with the antiaromatic systems more responsive to changes in the calculated NBO charge than the aromatic systems. The antiaromaticity was also shown to be directly related to the amount of delocalization in the ring system. The aromaticity of the dibenzotropylium system was much less responsive to changes in the amount of charge in the tropylium system, because the aromatic system was much more completely delocalized. Thus, antiaromatic species are more sensitive probes of delocalization than aromatic ones