Stereotactic Magnetic Resonance-guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy for Oligometastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report.

We present a case of durable local control achieved in a patient treated with stereotactic magnetic resonance-guided adaptive radiation therapy (SMART) for an abdominal lymph node in the setting of oligometastatic breast cancer. A 50-year-old woman with a history of triple positive metastatic invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast, stage IV (T3N2M1), underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, mastectomy, adjuvant radiotherapy and maintenance hormonal treatment with HER2 targeted therapies. At 20 months after definitive treatment of her primary, imaging showed an isolated progressive enlargement of lymph nodes between hepatic segment V/IVB and the neck of the pancreas. Radiofrequency ablation was considered, however, this approach was decided not to be optimal due to the proximity to stomach, and pancreatic duct. The patient was treated with SMART for 40 Gray in 5 fractions. Two and a half years later, the patient remains without evidence of disease progression. She experienced Grade 2 acute and late toxicity that was successfully managed with medications. This experience shows that SMART is a feasible and effective treatment to control the abdominal oligometastatic disease for breast cancer

Continuous Measurement of Reactive Oxygen Species Inside and Outside of a Residential House during Summer

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an important contributor to adverse health effects associated with ambient air pollution. Despite infiltration of ROS from outdoors, and possible indoor sources (eg, combustion), there are limited data available on indoor ROS. In this study, part of the second phase of Air Composition and Reactivity from Outdoor aNd Indoor Mixing campaign (ACRONIM-2), we constructed and deployed an online, continuous, system to measure extracellular gas- and particle-phase ROS during summer in an unoccupied residence in St. Louis, MO, USA. Over a period of one week, we observed that the non-denuded outdoor ROS (representing particle-phase ROS and some gas-phase ROS) concentration ranged from 1 to 4 nmol/m3 (as H2O2). Outdoor concentrations were highest in the afternoon, coincident with peak photochemistry periods. The indoor concentrations of particle-phase ROS were nearly equal to outdoor concentrations, regardless of window-opening status or air exchange rates. The indoor/outdoor ratio of non-denuded ROS (I/OROS) was significantly less than 1 with windows open and even lower with windows closed. Combined, these observations suggest that gas-phase ROS are efficiently removed by interior building surfaces and that there may be an indoor source of particle-phase ROS

Characterizing Biology Education Research: Perspectives from Practitioners and Scholars in the Field

Biology education research (BER) is a recently emerging field mainly focused on the learning and teaching of biology in postsecondary education. As BER continues to grow, exploring what goals, questions, and scholarship the field encompasses will provide an opportunity for the community to reflect on what new lines of inquiry could be pursued in the future. There have been top-down approaches at characterizing BER, such as aims and scope provided by professional societies or peer-reviewed journals, and literature analyses with evidence for current and historical research trends. However, there have not been previous attempts with a bottom-up approach at characterizing BER by directly surveying practitioners and scholars in the field. Here, we share survey results that asked participants at the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) annual meeting what they perceive as current scholarship in BER as well as what areas of inquiry in the field that they would like to see pursued in the future. These survey responses provide us with information directly from BER practitioners and scholars, and we invite colleagues to reflect on how we can collectively and collaboratively continue to promote BER as a field

Developing a control strategy for sequence variants

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Estimating the cost of illness of acute Japanese encephalitis and sequelae care in Vietnam and Laos: a cross-sectional study

Background Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a leading cause of acute encephalitis syndrome and resulting neurological disability in Asia and the Western Pacific. This study aims to estimate the cost of acute care, initial rehabilitation and sequelae care, in Vietnam and Laos. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study using a micro-costing approach from the health system and household perspectives. Out-of-pocket direct medical and non-medical costs, indirect costs, and family impact were reported by patients and/or caregivers. Hospitalization costs were extracted from hospital charts. Acute costs covered expenditures from pre-hospital to follow-up visits while sequelae care costs were estimated from expenditures in the last 90 days. All costs are in 2021 US dollars. Principal findings 242 patients in two major sentinel sites in the North and South of Vietnam and 65 patients in a central hospital in Vientiane, Laos, with laboratory-confirmed JE were recruited regardless of age, sex, and ethnicity. In Vietnam, the mean total cost was $3,371 per acute JE episode (median$2,071, standard error [SE] $464) while annual costs were$404 for initial sequelae care (median $0, SE$220) and $320 for long-term sequelae care (median$0, SE $108). In Laos, the mean hospitalization costs in acute stage were$2,005 (median $1,698, SE$279) and the mean annual costs were $2,317 (median$0, SE $2,233) for initial sequelae care and$89 (median $0, SE$57) for long-term sequelae care. In both countries, most patients did not seek care for their sequelae. Families perceived extreme impact from JE and 20% to 30% of households still had sustained debts years after acute JE. Conclusions JE patients and families in Vietnam and Laos suffer extreme medical, economic, and social hardship. This has policy implications for improving JE prevention in these two JE-endemic countries

MicroRNA and Target Protein Patterns Reveal Physiopathological Features of Glioma Subtypes

Gliomas such as oligodendrogliomas (ODG) and glioblastomas (GBM) are brain tumours with different clinical outcomes. Histology-based classification of these tumour types is often difficult. Therefore the first aim of this study was to gain microRNA data that can be used as reliable signatures of oligodendrogliomas and glioblastomas. We investigated the levels of 282 microRNAs using membrane-array hybridisation and real-time PCR in ODG, GBM and control brain tissues. In comparison to these control tissues, 26 deregulated microRNAs were identified in tumours and the tissue levels of seven microRNAs (miR-21, miR-128, miR-132, miR-134, miR-155, miR-210 and miR-409-5p) appropriately discriminated oligodendrogliomas from glioblastomas. Genomic, epigenomic and host gene expression studies were conducted to investigate the mechanisms involved in these deregulations. Another aim of this study was to better understand glioma physiopathology looking for targets of deregulated microRNAs. We discovered that some targets of these microRNAs such as STAT3, PTBP1 or SIRT1 are differentially expressed in gliomas consistent with deregulation of microRNA expression. Moreover, MDH1, the target of several deregulated microRNAs, is repressed in glioblastomas, making an intramitochondrial-NAD reduction mediated by the mitochondrial aspartate-malate shuttle unlikely. Understanding the connections between microRNAs and bioenergetic pathways in gliomas may lead to identification of novel therapeutic targets

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Hammer Triangle Transit Facility

The Hammer Triangle Transit Facility senior design project involves design of a bus transfer facility located within the triangular plot at the intersection of Hammer Lane, N. Lower Sacramento Road, and Thornton Road in Stockton, CA. The site must safely accommodate general traffic, pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit. Project team members are working closely with members of the San Joaquin Regional Transit District and the City of Stockton to make this facility a reality. The bus transfer facility will include lanes for the buses to stop for passenger loading while reducing the disturbance to traffic on the streets bordering the site. The facility will include spaces for eight buses to accommodate transfers and a structure that includes an indoor waiting area, commercial space, operator break room, a security facility, and public restrooms