Defining signatures of arm-wise copy number change and their associated drivers in kidney cancers

Using pan-cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we investigated how patterns in copy number alterations in cancer cells vary both by tissue type and as a function of genetic alteration. We find that patterns in both chromosomal ploidy and individual arm copy number are dependent on tumour type. We highlight for example, the significant losses in chromosome arm 3p and the gain of ploidy in 5q in kidney clear cell renal cell carcinoma tissue samples. We find that specific gene mutations are associated with genome-wide copy number changes. Using signatures derived from non-negative matrix factorisation (NMF), we also find gene mutations that are associated with particular patterns of ploidy change. Finally, utilising a set of machine learning classifiers, we successfully predicted the presence of mutated genes in a sample using arm-wise copy number patterns as features. This demonstrates that mutations in specific genes are correlated and may lead to specific patterns of ploidy loss and gain across chromosome arms. Using these same classifiers, we highlight which arms are most predictive of commonly mutated genes in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC)

BEVERLY, “MUSIC MISSES YOU”: A BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERFORMANCE GUIDE TO AMERICAN MEZZO-SOPRANO BEVERLY WOLFF’S CAREER AND HER SUBSEQUENT IMPACT ON AMERICAN OPERA AND ART SONG

American mezzo-soprano, Beverly Wolff has not received the credit or respect that she deserves in operatic history. Her career began in 1952 and flourished until her retirement from the stage in 1981. Her intense characterizations, innate musicianship, and intelligence made her one of the most sought-after performers from the 1950s to the 1970s. For thirty years, she worked with some of the operatic world’s finest musicians, including Leonard Bernstein, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem, Beverly Sills, Norman Triegle, Placido Domingo, among others. She was represented by Columbia Artists Management Inc (CAMI), one of New York’s oldest and most prestigious management companies, and maintained an active performance schedule that often included operatic, concert, and recital performances in the same week. She trained at the American Vocal Academy in Philadelphia and was inducted into its Hall of Fame. She performed in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, New Orleans, and Atlanta and was an active member of the New York City Opera, Handel Society, Tanglewood, and the Handel Society of Washington, D.C. Wolff is credited with over sixty recordings. She also appeared on several of NBC’s live operatic programs, which brought opera to the masses. Perhaps most importantly, she created and debuted several important roles in American opera. Few have heard of her; the purpose of this document is to fill in this gap in operatic history, and to clarify and correct misinformation about her. In this document, I will answer the following questions: What determines a performer’s worth? What secures a performer’s place in history? Finally, and more specifically, what imprints did Beverly Wolff leave for posterity

Technical Assistance Competencies for Maine\u27s Early Childhood Workforce Self-Assessment Checklist

This self-assessment checklist is a companion to the Technical Assistance Competencies for Maine’s Early Childhood Workforce (Labas, Lavallee, Downs, & Gallik, 2017). The checklist supports Technical Assistance (TA) professionals in assessing their skills within the five competency areas: 1) Professionalism; 2) Adult Learning Principles; 3) Building Relationships; 4) The Technical Assistance Process; and 5) Systems Knowledge. The checklist is designed to be used by TA professionals who support early childhood practitioners (serving children prenatal through age 8 and their families) and work across early childhood systems and sectors. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is required to complete the checklist electronically. Please download How to Use the Fill & Sign Tool in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (PDF) for step-by-step instructions

Technical Assistance Competencies for Maine\u27s Early Childhood Workforce

This publication, Technical Assistance Competencies for Maine’s Early Childhood Workforce (2017), was developed to define the relevant knowledge, skills and dispositions required by Technical Assistance (TA) professionals who support early childhood practitioners (serving prenatal through age 8) in Maine. TA professionals represent a wide range of disciplines and support a diverse early childhood workforce. These professionals adhere to varying regulations and standards and work within multiple settings. The framework for Maine’s TA Competencies defines the components of quality TA service provision across disciplines and also aligns with state priorities and national efforts

Establishing Trustworthy Repositories of Scientific Data: Opportunities and Benefits

Scientific progress often depends on the ability of the scientific community to build on the works of others. Such works include scientific data, published reports of findings, and other research-related information and artifacts that are produced as part of the scientific process. Providing capabilities for accessing and using such scientific works enables the reproducibility of published methods and results to identify opportunities for improvement. Access and use of science products also enables others to build on previous work. In an increasingly digital world, the science community accesses and uses relevant scientific resources that have been obtained from digital repositories, data centers, and archives, as well as from traditional sources such as publishers of journal articles. Digital repositories need to establish capabilities, which provide access to and enable the use of digital resources. These resources are needed by the science community to improve and build o! n the efforts of others. Digital repositories that provide free and unrestricted access to scientific data and research-related information can reduce the barriers to science. By reducing these barriers they will be able to offer opportunities for members of the scientific community to pursue research questions and challenges that were previously unapproachable. These may include opportunities for researchers to gather data from other domains and support interdisciplinary research. Opportunities to use the data products and services offered by digital repositories also can contribute to the development of the scientific community and to the emergence of new areas of study

An fMRI sSudy of Imagined Self-Rotation

In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine the neural mechanisms involved in the imagined spatial transformation of one\u27s body. The task required subjects to update the position of one of four external objects from memory after they had performed an imagined self-rotation to a new position. Activation in the rotation condition was compared with that in a control condition in which subjects located the positions of objects without imagining a change in self-position. The results indicated similar networks of activation to other egocentric transformation tasks involving decisions about body parts. The most significant area of activation was in the left posterior parietal cortex. Other regions of activation common among several of the subjects were secondary visual, premotor, and frontal lobe regions. These results are discussed relative to motor and visual imagery processes as well as to the distinctions between the present task and other imagined egocentric transformation tasks

The Use of Computer Decision Support for Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Detection in Primary Care.

Study Objectives To (1) describe outcomes from a computer decision support system (CDSS) for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) detection in primary care; and (2) identity the prevalence of children meeting criteria for an OSA referral. Methods A CDSS for OSA was implemented in two urban primary care clinics. Parents of children (age 2 to 11 years) presenting to the clinic were asked if their child snored regularly, with a positive response resulting in six additional OSA screening items. Primary care providers (PCPs) received a prompt for all snoring children, listing applicable OSA signs and symptoms and recommending further evaluation and referral for OSA. Results A total of 2,535 children were screened for snoring, identifying 475 snoring children (18.7%). Among snoring children, PCPs referred 40 (15.4%) for further evaluation. The prevalence of additional OSA signs and symptoms ranged from 3.5% for underweight to 43.7% for overweight. A total of 74.7% of snoring children had at least one additional sign or symptom and thus met American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines criteria for an OSA referral. Conclusions A CDSS can be used to support PCPs in identifying children at risk for OSA. Most snoring children met criteria for further evaluation. It will be important to further evaluate this referral threshold as well as the readiness of the sleep medicine field to meet this need

Barriers and facilitators to treatment participation by adolescents in a community mental health clinic

An estimated 40–60% of children in mental health treatment drop out before completing their treatment plans, resulting in increased risk for ongoing clinical symptoms and functional impairment, lower satisfaction with treatment, and other poor outcomes. Research has focused predominately on child, caregiver, and family factors that affect treatment participation in this population and relatively less on organizational factors. Findings are limited by focus on children between 3 and 14 years of age and included only caregivers’ and/or therapists’ perspectives. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to identify organizational factors that influenced participation in treatment, with special attention to factors that contributed to dropout in adolescents. The sample included 12 adolescent–caregiver dyads drawn from two groups in a large public mental health provider database. Analysis of focus group interview data revealed several perceived facilitators and barriers to adolescent participation in treatment and provided several practical suggestions for improving treatment participation. Implications of the findings for psychiatric mental health nurses and other clinicians who provide services to families of adolescents with mental health concerns are discussed

An investigation on the ability of Nanofibrillated cellulose to enhance the environmental sustainability of paper product manufacture

There are a number of products which are manufactured at a very large scale globally which are both energy and materials use intensive. In the case of paper and board manufacture, paper pulp (a mixture of cellulose, water and additives such as TiO2) require large quantities of cellulose, principally from trees and plant sources with the corresponding addition addition and removal of water by mechanical or thermal means.The objective of the study was to investigate the potential benefit if using a nanofibrillated form of cellulose (NFC) to reduce the total paper pulp quantities used while retaining paper mechanical and printing performance of the paper stock produced

Unexplained Practice Variation in Primary Care Providers' Concern for Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objective To examine primary care provider (PCP) screening practice for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and predictive factors for screening habits. A secondary objective was to describe the polysomnography (PSG) completion proportion and outcome. We hypothesized that both provider and child health factors would predict PCP suspicion of OSA. Methods A computer decision support system that automated screening for snoring was implemented in five urban primary care clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. We studied 1086 snoring children between 1 and 11 years seen by 26 PCPs. We used logistic regression to examine the association between PCP suspicion of OSA and child demographics, child health characteristics, provider characteristics, and clinic site. Results PCPs suspected OSA in 20% of snoring children. Factors predicting PCP concern for OSA included clinic site (p < .01; OR=0.13), Spanish language (p < .01; OR=0.53), provider training (p=.01; OR=10.19), number of training years (p=.01; OR=4.26) and child age (p<.01), with the youngest children least likely to elicit PCP concern for OSA (OR=0.20). No patient health factors (e.g., obesity) were significantly predictive. Proportions of OSA suspicion were variable between clinic sites (range 6% to 28%) and between specific providers (range 0% to 63%). Of children referred for PSG (n=100), 61% completed the study. Of these, 67% had OSA. Conclusions Results suggest unexplained small area practice variation in PCP concern for OSA amongst snoring children. It is likely that many children at-risk for OSA remain unidentified. An important next step is to evaluate interventions to support PCPs in evidence-based OSA identification