Making Connections - Envisioning Springfield\u27s North End

This work explores a service learning strategy in the context of the senior Urban Design Studio taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The primary goal of this project is to stimulate a conversation in the neighborhoods of the North End, to develop green design strategies, to improve services and businesses for residents and the employees of local businesses, and to foster cultural engagement and interaction in the North End that will enhance the vibrancy, resilience, and quality of life of this urban community. Making connections - Envisioning Springfield\u27s North End proposes improved connectivity in a physical, cultural, and social sense will be key to attaining these goals and to engaging and synergizing individuals and community groups in the North End - residents, businesses, schools, churches, employers, and employees. Six sustainable learning and planning principles have emerged from this studio: 1. Input and interaction – Visioning workshops connect campus and community 2. Community-building art - Expression of place and people 3. Healthy living - Urban agriculture and education 4. Urban greenways – Abandoned railways and urban rivers and streams 5. Green infrastructure - Green streets as networks and structural framework 6. Sustainable urban form – Mixed use and pedestrian friendly neighborhood

Interaction between Myelodysplasia-Related Gene Mutations and Ontogeny in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Accurate classification and risk stratification are critical for clinical decision making in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In the newly proposed World Health Organization and International Consensus classifications of hematolymphoid neoplasms, the presence of myelodysplasia-related (MR) gene mutations is included as 1 of the diagnostic criteria for AML, AML-MR, based largely on the assumption that these mutations are specific for AML with an antecedent myelodysplastic syndrome. ICC also prioritizes MR gene mutations over ontogeny (as defined in the clinical history). Furthermore, European LeukemiaNet (ELN) 2022 stratifies these MR gene mutations into the adverse-risk group. By thoroughly annotating a cohort of 344 newly diagnosed patients with AML treated at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, we show that ontogeny assignments based on the database registry lack accuracy. MR gene mutations are frequently observed in de novo AML. Among the MR gene mutations, only EZH2 and SF3B1 were associated with an inferior outcome in the univariate analysis. In a multivariate analysis, AML ontogeny had independent prognostic values even after adjusting for age, treatment, allo-transplant and genomic classes or ELN risks. Ontogeny also helped stratify the outcome of AML with MR gene mutations. Finally, de novo AML with MR gene mutations did not show an adverse outcome. In summary, our study emphasizes the importance of accurate ontogeny designation in clinical studies, demonstrates the independent prognostic value of AML ontogeny, and questions the current classification and risk stratification of AML with MR gene mutations

Water Management Diagnostics of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

219 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.A final finding is that surface defects in the flow field impact the water distribution pattern. To the author's knowledge, this is the first time the importance of flow field surface quality is considered, and its impact is found to be profound. In our system we find that defects act as 'sticking' points on the flow channel bottom, creating water waves that do not exhaust from the fuel cell. These stuck waves increase the pressure drop within the fuel cell, as well as reducing its freeze resistance, catalyst stability, and stack stability.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Water Management Diagnostics of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

219 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.A final finding is that surface defects in the flow field impact the water distribution pattern. To the author's knowledge, this is the first time the importance of flow field surface quality is considered, and its impact is found to be profound. In our system we find that defects act as 'sticking' points on the flow channel bottom, creating water waves that do not exhaust from the fuel cell. These stuck waves increase the pressure drop within the fuel cell, as well as reducing its freeze resistance, catalyst stability, and stack stability.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

BIOM-17. BRAF MUTATION IS AN EARLY EVENT IN THE EVOLUTION OF A SUBSET OF GLIOBLASTOMAS AND IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED PD-L1 EXPRESSION

Abstract INTRODUCTION BRAF is a RAF-family kinase that regulates MAPK/ERK signaling. Activating BRAF mutations, including V600E, are common in circumscribed low-grade gliomas of childhood and young adulthood, but are uncommon in infiltrative astrocytomas, including glioblastoma. Their role in glioblastoma initiation and progression requires analysis of large datasets given the low frequency (1.0%) in TCGA IDH-wild-type glioblastomas. METHODS Molecular profiling was done on 4679 FFPE gliomas by next-generation sequencing at Caris Life Sciences, of which 3170 underwent RNA-sequencing for gene fusion and 4603 DNA-sequencing for mutations. MGMT promoter methylation was tested by pyrosequencing and PD-L1 IHC was performed using the SP142 clone. RESULTS Excluding variants of uncertain significance, BRAF mutations/fusions were most common in pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA; N=12/24, 50%), glioneuronal tumors (N=6/13, 46%), pilocytic astrocytoma (PA; N=15/48, 31%), and ganglioglioma (n=5/18, 28%). BRAF fusions were uncommon (N=17), most frequent in PA (N=8/31, 26%) where they were associated with older age at daignosis (P=0.043), and typically involved KIAA1549 as fusion partner (70%). BRAF-mutated/fused glioblastoma patients (N=59/3126, 2%) were younger than BRAF-wild-type glioblastoma patients (54 versus 59 years, P=3.5x10-3); more likely to be MGMT-unmethylated (75% versus 56%, P=5.0x10-3); and 3x more likely to express PD-L1 (55% versus 17%, P=2.1x10-10). In tumors harboring a V600E mutation, the variant allele frequency (VAF) was similar in glioblastoma as in PXA, PA, ganglioglioma, and glioneuronal tumors (median VAF=35%). CONCLUSIONS BRAF-mutated glioblastoma were 3x more likely to express PD-L1 than BRAF-wild-type glioblastoma. We observed no differences in BRAF V600E clonality in BRAF-mutated glioblastoma compared to BRAF-mutated PXA, PA, ganglioglioma, and glioneuronal tumors, suggesting BRAF mutation is an initiating event in the clonal evolution of a subset of glioblastoma. There is rationale to evaluate combined BRAF inhibition with checkpoint inhibition in BRAF-mutated glioblastoma, potentially synergizing the complete response profile of the former with the durable response profile of the latter

Making Connections - Envisioning Springfield's North End

Professors: Frank Sleegers and John Taylor Teaching Assistant: Brian C. GiggeyThis work explores a service learning strategy in the context of the senior Urban Design Studio taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The primary goal of this project is to stimulate a conversation in the neighborhoods of the North End, to develop green design strategies, to improve services and businesses for residents and the employees of local businesses, and to foster cultural engagement and interaction in the North End that will enhance the vibrancy, resilience, and quality of life of this urban community. Making connections - Envisioning Springfield's North End proposes improved connectivity in a physical, cultural, and social sense will be key to attaining these goals and to engaging and synergizing individuals and community groups in the North End - residents, businesses, schools, churches, employers, and employees. Six sustainable learning and planning principles have emerged from this studio: 1. Input and interaction – Visioning workshops connect campus and community 2. Community-building art - Expression of place and people 3. Healthy living - Urban agriculture and education 4. Urban greenways – Abandoned railways and urban rivers and streams 5. Green infrastructure - Green streets as networks and structural framework 6. Sustainable urban form – Mixed use and pedestrian friendly neighborhood

Tales of diversity: Genomic and morphological characteristics of forty-six <i>Arthrobacter</i> phages

<div><p>The vast bacteriophage population harbors an immense reservoir of genetic information. Almost 2000 phage genomes have been sequenced from phages infecting hosts in the phylum Actinobacteria, and analysis of these genomes reveals substantial diversity, pervasive mosaicism, and novel mechanisms for phage replication and lysogeny. Here, we describe the isolation and genomic characterization of 46 phages from environmental samples at various geographic locations in the U.S. infecting a single <i>Arthrobacter</i> sp. strain. These phages include representatives of all three virion morphologies, and Jasmine is the first sequenced podovirus of an actinobacterial host. The phages also span considerable sequence diversity, and can be grouped into 10 clusters according to their nucleotide diversity, and two singletons each with no close relatives. However, the clusters/singletons appear to be genomically well separated from each other, and relatively few genes are shared between clusters. Genome size varies from among the smallest of siphoviral phages (15,319 bp) to over 70 kbp, and G+C contents range from 45–68%, compared to 63.4% for the host genome. Although temperate phages are common among other actinobacterial hosts, these <i>Arthrobacter</i> phages are primarily lytic, and only the singleton Galaxy is likely temperate.</p></div

\u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25–50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3–11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11–27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (~90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4–3.6 vs. 8.4–8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu

Genome organization of <i>Arthrobacter</i> phage Amigo, Cluster AQ.

<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0180517#pone.0180517.g005" target="_blank">Fig 5</a> for details.</p