8,889 research outputs found
Partnering with Students to Connect Students
Too often outreaches and interventions designed to support students transitioning to higher education, are developed by academics who may not have a full understanding of the complexity and diversity of their students’ realities. This disconnect explains why, in most cases, interventions are reactive instead of proactive. In this article, we draw on our experiences in terms of the design and implementation of a Student Resource Centre (SRC) to advocate for student and staff collaborative design. The student-run initiative works with students as partners to constitute and operationalise an innovative near-peer mentoring and support space. The mixed-methods study draws on social-cultural learning theory on student engagement and reflective practice tools. We explain how a student’s sense of belonging is central to their success, progression, and graduation. This article highlights the need to contextualise and personalise institutional support for students
NIKEL: Electronics and data acquisition for kilopixels kinetic inductance camera
A prototype of digital frequency multiplexing electronics allowing the real
time monitoring of microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKIDs) arrays for
mm-wave astronomy has been developed. Thanks to the frequency multiplexing, it
can monitor simultaneously 400 pixels over a 500 MHz bandwidth and requires
only two coaxial cables for instrumenting such a large array. The chosen
solution and the performances achieved are presented in this paper.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure
GaAs(111)A and B in hydrazine sulfide solutions : extreme polarity dependence of surface adsorption processes
Chemical bonds formed by hydrazine-sulfide treatment of GaAs(111) were
studied by synchrotron photoemission spectroscopy. At the B surface, the top
arsenic atoms are replaced by nitrogen atoms, while GaAs(111)A is covered by
sulfur, also bonded to underlying gallium, despite the sulfide molar
concentration being 103 times smaller than that of the hydrazine. This extreme
dependence on surface polarity is explained by competitive adsorption processes
of HS- and OH- anions and of hydrazine molecules, on Ga- adsorption sites,
which have distinct configurations on the A and B surfaces
Meeting of the Advisory Committee to the Argonne Cancer Research Hospital Program
Abstracts are provided for presentations in these areas: studies in immunology; studies in molecular biology; experimental and clinical studies of cell differentiation; studies on the blood; general metabolic studies; problems in scanning; clinical and experimental studies on the effects of radiation; and studies with high energy radiations
NCI-MATCH Arms N & P: Phase II study of PI3K beta inhibitor GSK2636771 in patients (pts) with cancers (ca) with PTEN mutation/deletion (mut/del) or PTEN protein loss
Background: The NCI-MATCH trial is the largest national study (1173 sites) for ptswith relapsed/ refractory solid tumors, lymphomas and myeloma, which assigns tar-geted therapies based on individual tumor molecular alterations detected using theadapted Oncomine AmpliSeq panel (143 genes) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).We hypothesized that patients with PTEN-deficient cancers enrolled to Arms N and Pmay benefit from treatment with the PI3K beta-selective inhibitor GSK2636771.
Methods: Eligibility: relapsed/refractory ca, good end-organ function, and ECOG PS ≤ 1. Pts were screened for molecular alterations by centralized testing on fresh tumor biopsy and had deleterious PTEN mut/del without loss of expression (Arm N) or complete loss of cytoplasmic and nuclear PTEN staining on IHC (Arm P), and no other aberrations activating the PI3K/MTOR and MAPK pathways (mut in PIK3CA, PIK3R1, BRAF, KRAS, AKT1, TSC1/2, mTOR, RHEB, NF2, NRAS, HRAS). Pts received GSK2636771 400mg/day (28-days cycles). RECIST 1.1 overall response rate (ORR) was the primary endpoint.
Results: Of 59 enrolled pts, 56 were eligible and received treatment. Of 22 pts with PTEN mut/del (Arm N: 6 uterine, 2 breast, 2 prostate, 2 head/neck ca, 10 other), all are off treatment as of analysis (14 disease progression, 4 for adverse events [AEs], 4 other). One pt (4.5%) with prostate ca (PTEN deletion, MPRSS2-ERG fusion) attained a partial response (-42%). Of 7 (32%) pts with stable disease (SD), 2 had SD \u3e 6 months (uterine leiomyosarcoma; endometrial carcinoma). Of 34 pts with loss of PTEN protein by IHC (Arm P: 7 prostate, 6 breast, 3 squamous anal ca, 2 cholangiocarcinoma, 16 other), all are off treatment as of analysis (26 disease progression, 4 for AE, 4 other). Of 9 (37.5%) pts with SD, 3 had SD \u3e 6 months (prostate cancer; squamous bladder cancer, squamous anal cancer). Median progression-free survival was 1.8 months for both arms. Gr ≥ 3 treatment-related (tr) reversible toxicities were experienced by 30% (7) and 20% (7) of pts in arms N and P, respectively. No tr Gr 5 toxicities were observed in either arm.
Conclusions: Single agent GSK2636771 has very modest activity in ca with PTEN gene mutation/deletion and/or PTEN protein loss
Patient experiences of a physiotherapy-led multidisciplinary rehabilitative intervention after successful treatment for oesophago-gastric cancer
Purpose To qualitatively explore the perceived impact of a 12-week rehabilitative intervention for oesophago-gastric cancer survivors on their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Methods Of the 21 participants who completed the intervention, 19 took part in a semi-structured focus group interview. Four audio-taped focus groups were held, ranging in size from two to eight participants. Focus groups were transcribed and analysed using a descriptive qualitative approach. Results At recruitment, participants were 23.5 ± 15.2 months post-surgery and all had suboptimal fitness levels. Participants reported improvements in their physical capacity and ability to carry out activities of daily living during the intervention. These improvements led to increased confidence and social connectivity. Other participants were a valuable source of information and reassurance, while support from family members was variable. Future interventions should educate participants on how to maintain gains achieved during the intervention. Conclusions Participating in an exercise-based multidisciplinary rehabilitative intervention reduces isolation and helps oesophago-gastric cancer survivors to safely negotiate their physical, emotional and social needs as they move further down the path of recovery
Periodic Bursts of Coherent Radio Emission from an Ultracool Dwarf
We report the detection of periodic (p = 1.96 hours) bursts of extremely
bright, 100% circularly polarized, coherent radio emission from the M9 dwarf
TVLM 513-46546. Simultaneous photometric monitoring observations have
established this periodicity to be the rotation period of the dwarf. These
bursts, which were not present in previous observations of this target, confirm
that ultracool dwarfs can generate persistent levels of broadband, coherent
radio emission, associated with the presence of kG magnetic fields in a
large-scale, stable configuration. Compact sources located at the magnetic
polar regions produce highly beamed emission generated by the electron
cyclotron maser instability, the same mechanism known to generate planetary
coherent radio emission in our solar system. The narrow beams of radiation pass
our line of sight as the dwarf rotates, producing the associated periodic
bursts. The resulting radio light curves are analogous to the periodic light
curves associated with pulsar radio emission highlighting TVLM 513-46546 as the
prototype of a new class of transient radio source.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Electronics and data acquisition demonstrator for a kinetic inductance camera
A prototype of digital frequency multiplexing electronics allowing the real
time monitoring of kinetic inductance detector (KIDs) arrays for mm-wave
astronomy has been developed. It requires only 2 coaxial cables for
instrumenting a large array. For that, an excitation comb of frequencies is
generated and fed through the detector. The direct frequency synthesis and the
data acquisition relies heavily on a large FPGA using parallelized and
pipelined processing. The prototype can instrument 128 resonators (pixels) over
a bandwidth of 125 MHz. This paper describes the technical solution chosen, the
algorithm used and the results obtained
Synchronization in Weighted Uncorrelated Complex Networks in a Noisy Environment: Optimization and Connections with Transport Efficiency
Motivated by synchronization problems in noisy environments, we study the
Edwards-Wilkinson process on weighted uncorrelated scale-free networks. We
consider a specific form of the weights, where the strength (and the associated
cost) of a link is proportional to with and
being the degrees of the nodes connected by the link. Subject to the
constraint that the total network cost is fixed, we find that in the mean-field
approximation on uncorrelated scale-free graphs, synchronization is optimal at
-1. Numerical results, based on exact numerical diagonalization
of the corresponding network Laplacian, confirm the mean-field results, with
small corrections to the optimal value of . Employing our recent
connections between the Edwards-Wilkinson process and resistor networks, and
some well-known connections between random walks and resistor networks, we also
pursue a naturally related problem of optimizing performance in queue-limited
communication networks utilizing local weighted routing schemes.Comment: Papers on related research can be found at
http://www.rpi.edu/~korniss/Research
Sarcopenia during neoadjuvant therapy for oesophageal cancer: characterising the impact on muscle strength and physical performance
Purpose Preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for oesophageal cancer (OC) may have an attritional impact on body composition and functional status, impacting postoperative outcome. Physical decline with skeletal muscle loss has not been previously characterised in OC and may be amenable to physical rehabilitation. This study characterises skeletal muscle mass and physical performance from diagnosis to post-neoadjuvant therapy in patients undergoing preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for OC.
Methods Measures of body composition (axial computerised tomography), muscle strength (handgrip), functional capacity (walking distance), anthropometry (weight, height and waist circumference), physical activity, quality-of-life and nutritional status were captured prospectively. Sarcopenia status was defined as pre-sarcopenic (low muscle mass only), sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength or function) or severely sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength and low muscle function).
Results Twenty-eight participants were studied at both time points (mean age 62.86 ± 8.18 years, n = 23 male). Lean body mass reduced by 4.9 (95% confidence interval 3.2 to 6.7) kg and mean grip strength reduced by 4.3 (2.5 to 6.1) kg from pre- to postneoadjuvant therapy. Quality-of-life scores capturing gastrointestinal symptoms improved. Measures of anthropometry, walking distance, physical activity and nutritional status did not change. There was an increase in sarcopenic status from diagnosis (presarcopenic n=2) to post-treatment (pre-sarcopenic n = 5, severely sarcopenic n = 1).
Conclusions Despite maintenance of body weight, functional capacity and activity habits, participants experience declines in muscle mass and strength. Interventions involving exercise and/or nutritional support to build muscle mass and strength during preoperative therapy, even in patients who are functioning normally, are warranted
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