Sustaining the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint to improve cancer therapy

To prevent chromosome segregation errors, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) delays mitosis exit until proper spindle assembly. We found that the FCP1 phosphatase and its downstream target WEE1 kinase oppose the SAC, promoting mitosis exit despite malformed spindles. We further showed that targeting this pathway might be useful for cancer therapy

Development and psychometric evaluation of the nurse caring patient scale

Thesis advisor: Dorothy A. JonesA metasynthesis of 90 published qualitative studies was conducted on the nurses’, students’, and patients’ perception of nurse caring. A mid-range theory of Nurse Caring emerged from the data, including three attributes: Presence, Concern for the Other, Knowledgeable, Competent Care, and Respect for the Person. The Nurse Caring Patient Scale (NCPS) was developed from patient descriptors within the metasynthesis. NCPS was tested to establish the psychometric properties of the instrument with 341 adult acute in-patients of a northeastern United States metropolitan teaching medical center. Initial reliability for total NCPS was .92. Factor analysis using principal components analysis with varimax rotation resulted in a parsimonious three factor solution that accounted for 50.49 % of the total variance. The final NCPS was 23 items with an alpha of .91. Component 1 (Presence, Concern for the Other) was comprised of 11 items with an alpha of .89. Component 2 (Knowledgeable, Competent Care) contained five items with an alpha of .77. Component 3 (Respect for the Person) had seven items and an alpha of .73. Participants were asked to write about an experience with a nurse. Components of caring and uncaring experiences described by participants did not add to the body of data from the metasynthesis or to the items of the NCPS. This study was limited by sample population, and the items of NCPS may be applicable only to those included in the synthesized qualitative studies. The metasynthesis of qualitative studies and mid-range theory of Nurse Caring add to the theoretical concept of caring by including the patients’ perceptions of the nurse-patient encounter. Components of Nurse Caring add competency, and respect to presence with the patient for a comprehensive definition of caring. NCPS offers nurses and administrators a valid reliable measure for patient perceptions of quality of care and satisfaction that were until now unseen and unmeasured. The theory of Nurse Caring provides nurse educators with a framework for nursing curricula, since the theory incorporates all aspects of nursing practice within its definition.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008.Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing.Discipline: Nursing

The optical appearance of a nonsingular de Sitter core black hole geometry under several thin disk emissions

We consider the optical appearance under a thin accretion disk of a regular black hole with a central de Sitter core implementing $\mathcal{O}(l^2/r^2)$ far-corrections to the Schwarzschild black hole. We use the choice $l=0.25M$, which satisfies recently found constraints from the motion of the S2 star around Sgr A$^*$ in this model, and which leads to thermodynamically stable black holes. As the emission model, we suitably adapt ten samples of the Standard Unbound emission profile for a monochromatic intensity in the disk's frame, which have been previously employed in the literature within the context of reproducing General Relativistic Magneto-Hydrodynamic simulations of the accretion flow. We find the usual central brightness depression surrounded by the bright ring cast by the disk's direct emission as well as two non-negligible photon ring contributions. As compared to the usual Schwarzschild solution, the relative luminosities of the latter are significantly boosted, while the size of the former is strongly decreased. We discuss the entanglement of the background geometry and the choice of emission model in generating these black hole images, as well as the capability of these modifications of Schwarzschild solution to pass present and future tests based on their optical appearance when illuminated by an accretion disk.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Crustal blocks and seismicity in the Central Apennines of Italy

Kinematics and geodynamics of crustal-block structures separated by compliant zones with viscoelastic rheology play an important role in defining the conditions for many deformation events such as ordinary seismic ruptures, silent and slow earthquakes and aseismic fault creep phenomena. New seismological data from the Latium-Abruzzi carbonatic platform of central Italy fit a block-tectonic modelling previously proposed for this area on the basis of structural and paleomagnetic evidences

Prompt interval temporal logic

Interval temporal logics are expressive formalisms for temporal representation and reasoning, which use time intervals as primitive temporal entities. They have been extensively studied for the past two decades and successfully applied in AI and computer science. Unfortunately, they lack the ability of expressing promptness conditions, as it happens with the commonly-used temporal logics, e.g., LTL: whenever we deal with a liveness request, such as \u201csomething good eventually happens\u201d, there is no way to impose a bound on the delay with which it is fulfilled. In the last years, such an issue has been addressed in automata theory, game theory, and temporal logic. In this paper, we approach it in the interval temporal logic setting. First, we introduce PROMPT-PNL, a prompt extension of the well-studied interval temporal logic PNL, and we prove the undecidability of its satisfiability problem; then, we show how to recover decidability (NEXPTIME-completeness) by imposing a natural syntactic restriction on it

Are nonsingular black holes with super-Planckian hair ruled out by S2 star data?

We propose a novel nonsingular black-hole spacetime representing a strong deformation of the Schwarzschild solution with mass $M$ by an additional hair $\ell$, which may be hierarchically larger than the Planck scale. Our black-hole model presents a de Sitter core and $\mathcal{O}(\ell^2/r^2)$ slow-decaying corrections to the Schwarzschild solution. Our black-hole solutions are thermodynamically preferred when $0.2 \lesssim \ell/GM \lesssim \, 0.3$ and are characterized by strong deviations in the orbits of test particles from the Schwarzschild case. In particular, we find corrections to the perihelion precession angle scaling linearly with $\ell$. We test our model using the available data for the orbits of the S2 star around $\text{SgrA}^*$. These data strongly constrain the value of the hair $\ell$, casting an upper bound on it of $\sim \, 0.47 \, GM$, but do not rule out the possible existence of regular black holes with super-Planckian hair.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Revised version: Addendum and some references have been adde

Assessing a sleep interviewing chatbot to improve subjective and objective sleep: protocol for an observational feasibility study

BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders are common among the aging population and people with neurodegenerative diseases. Sleep disorders have a strong bidirectional relationship with neurodegenerative diseases, where they accelerate and worsen one another. Although one-to-one individual cognitive behavioral interventions (conducted in-person or on the internet) have shown promise for significant improvements in sleep efficiency among adults, many may experience difficulties accessing interventions with sleep specialists, psychiatrists, or psychologists. Therefore, delivering sleep intervention through an automated chatbot platform may be an effective strategy to increase the accessibility and reach of sleep disorder intervention among the aging population and people with neurodegenerative diseases. OBJECTIVE: This work aims to (1) determine the feasibility and usability of an automated chatbot (named MotivSleep) that conducts sleep interviews to encourage the aging population to report behaviors that may affect their sleep, followed by providing personalized recommendations for better sleep based on participants' self-reported behaviors; (2) assess the self-reported sleep assessment changes before, during, and after using our automated sleep disturbance intervention chatbot; (3) assess the changes in objective sleep assessment recorded by a sleep tracking device before, during, and after using the automated chatbot MotivSleep. METHODS: We will recruit 30 older adult participants from West London for this pilot study. Each participant will have a sleep analyzer installed under their mattress. This contactless sleep monitoring device passively records movements, heart rate, and breathing rate while participants are in bed. In addition, each participant will use our proposed chatbot MotivSleep, accessible on WhatsApp, to describe their sleep and behaviors related to their sleep and receive personalized recommendations for better sleep tailored to their specific reasons for disrupted sleep. We will analyze questionnaire responses before and after the study to assess their perception of our proposed chatbot; questionnaire responses before, during, and after the study to assess their subjective sleep quality changes; and sleep parameters recorded by the sleep analyzer throughout the study to assess their objective sleep quality changes. RESULTS: Recruitment will begin in May 2023 through UK Dementia Research Institute Care Research and Technology Centre organized community outreach. Data collection will run from May 2023 until December 2023. We hypothesize that participants will perceive our proposed chatbot as intelligent and trustworthy; we also hypothesize that our proposed chatbot can help improve participants' subjective and objective sleep assessment throughout the study. CONCLUSIONS: The MotivSleep automated chatbot has the potential to provide additional care to older adults who wish to improve their sleep in more accessible and less costly ways than conventional face-to-face therapy. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/45752

Impaired mitochondrial biogenesis is a common feature to myocardial hypertrophy and end-stage ischemic heart failure

Mitochondrial (mt) DNA depletion and oxidative mtDNA damage have been implicated in the process of pathological cardiac remodeling. Whether these features are present in the early phase of maladaptive cardiac remodeling, that is, during compensated cardiac hypertrophy, is still unknown. We compared the morphologic and molecular features of mt biogenesis and markers of oxidative stress in human heart from adult subjects with compensated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. We have shown that mtDNA depletion is a constant feature of both conditions. A quantitative loss of mtDNA content was associated with significant down-regulation of selected modulators of mt biogenesis and decreased expression of proteins involved in mtDNA maintenance. Interestingly, mtDNA depletion characterized also the end-stage phase of cardiomyopathies due to a primary mtDNA defect. Oxidative stress damage was detected only in failing myocardium

High-spin states and band terminations in v 49

High-spin states in 49 V have been studied through the 28 Si(28 Si, α3p) reaction using the EUROBALL γ-ray detector array. The 49 V level scheme has been extended up to 13.1 MeV including 21 new states. Both negative and positive parity states have been interpreted in the framework of theShell Model. The 27/2− and the 31/2+ band termination states have been observed in agreement with theoretical predictions.Fil: Rodrigues Ferreira Maltez, Dario Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia Física (Centro Atómico Constituyentes). Proyecto Tandar; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Hojman, Daniel Leonardo. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia Física (Centro Atómico Constituyentes). Proyecto Tandar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lenzi, Silvia M.. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; Italia. Università di Padova; ItaliaFil: Cardona, Maria Angelica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia Física (Centro Atómico Constituyentes). Proyecto Tandar; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Fernea, Enrico. Università di Padova; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Axiotis, M.. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Beck, C.. Université de Strasbourg; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Bednarczyk, P.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Bizzetti, P. G.. Università di Padova; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Bizzetti Sona, A. M.. Università di Padova; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Della Vedova, F.. Università di Padova; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Grebosz, J.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Haas, F.. Université de Strasbourg; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Kmiecik, M.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Maj, A.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Męczyński, W.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Napoli, D. R.. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Nespolo, M.. Università di Padova; Italia. Istituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare.; ItaliaFil: Papka, P.. Université de Strasbourg; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Sánchez i Zafra, A.. Université de Strasbourg; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Styczen, J.. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Thummerer, S.. Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung; AlemaniaFil: Ziębliński, M.. Polish Academy of Sciences; Argentin