A Comparative Analysis of Selected Twentieth Century Watercolorists

My objectives in writing this paper were to research selected watercolorists whose work I admire and whose work bears a relationship to my own, and to make a comparative analysis. In the process of research, I found that not all of the work of the artists I had chosen related totally to my own, but there was at least one of the basic elements that did apply. I wanted to learn from looking at their work and reading about their philosophies. That I did; and it has stimulated in me many thoughts and plans, wishes to try some of their methods, ideas of my very own, and ways in which I may develop them. The stars of the artists I researched apparently rose during the late 1940\u27s and peaked during the 1950\u27s. These years coincided with the activity and prominence of the American Watercolor Society. Each of the artists I have chosen to research and write on will be reviewed in the following aspects: 1. inspiration, motivation or subject matter in relation to his work in general, to a particular painting, or to both; 2. his emotional or intellectual response, if stated, to his work in general or to a specified painting; 3. his technical approach, either as stated or as I analyze it; 4. my response to his work in general and a particular painting, as I compare and analyze it in relation to my own work, based on common aspects. The watercolor artists I have selected for my comparative analyses are: Ralph Avery, Lars Hoftrup, John McCoy, Ogden Pleissner, Frank Wagner, and Frederic Whitaker. The amount of research material on each of them varied considerably and in varying degrees the conclusions I have drawn are my own

Faculty Recital:Bonnie Pomfret, Soprano and Guest Artist Eva Ferguson, Piano

Kemp Recital Hall Tuesday Evening March 4, 1997 8:00p.m

Leadership Training for Oral Health Professionals: A Call to Action

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153632/1/jddj002203372012762tb05245x.pd

The Central Aspects of Pain in the Knee (CAP-Knee) questionnaire; a mixed-methods study of a self-report instrument for assessing central mechanisms in people with knee pain

OBJECTIVES: Pain is the prevailing symptom of knee osteoarthritis. Central sensitisation creates discordance between pain and joint pathology. We previously reported a central pain mechanisms trait derived from 8 discrete characteristics: neuropathic-like pain, fatigue, cognitive-impact, catastrophising, anxiety, sleep disturbance, depression, and pain distribution. We here validate and show that an 8-item questionnaire, Central Aspects of Pain in the Knee (CAP-Knee) is associated both with sensory and affective components of knee pain severity.METHODS: Participants with knee pain were recruited from the Investigating Musculoskeletal Health and Wellbeing study in the East Midlands, UK. CAP-Knee items were refined following cognitive interviews. Psychometric properties were assessed in 250 participants using Rasch-, and factor-analysis, and Cronbach’s alpha. Intra-class correlation coefficients tested repeatability. Associations between CAP-Knee and McGill Pain questionnaire pain severity scores using linear regression.RESULTS: CAP-Knee targeted the knee pain sample well. Cognitive interviews indicated that participants interpreted CAP-Knee items in diverse ways aligned to their intended meanings. Fit to the Rasch model was optimised by rescoring each item, producing a summated score from 0-16. Internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha=0.74) and test–retest reliability excellent (ICC2,1=0.91). Each CAP-Knee item contributed uniquely to one discrete `Central Mechanisms trait’ factor. High CAP-Knee scores were associated with worse overall knee pain intensity and with each of sensory and affective McGill Pain Questionnaire scores.CONCLUSION: CAP-Knee is a simple and valid self-report questionnaire, which measures a single `Central Mechanisms’ trait, and may help identify and target centrally-acting treatments aiming to reduce the burden of knee pain

BRCA2 inhibition enhances cisplatin-mediated alterations in tumor cell proliferation, metabolism, and metastasis

Tumor cells have unstable genomes relative to non-tumor cells. Decreased DNA integrity resulting from tumor cell instability is important in generating favorable therapeutic indices, and intact DNA repair mediates resistance to therapy. Targeting DNA repair to promote the action of anti-cancer agents is therefore an attractive therapeutic strategy. BRCA2 is involved in homologous recombination repair. BRCA2 defects increase cancer risk but, paradoxically, cancer patients with BRCA2 mutations have better survival rates. We queried TCGA data and found that BRCA2 alterations led to increased survival in patients with ovarian and endometrial cancer. We developed a BRCA2-targeting second-generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), which sensitized human lung, ovarian, and breast cancer cells to cisplatin by as much as 60%. BRCA2 ASO treatment overcame acquired cisplatin resistance in head and neck cancer cells, but induced minimal cisplatin sensitivity in non-tumor cells. BRCA2 ASO plus cisplatin reduced respiration as an early event preceding cell death, concurrent with increased glucose uptake without a difference in glycolysis. BRCA2 ASO and cisplatin decreased metastatic frequency invivo by 77%. These results implicate BRCA2 as a regulator of metastatic frequency and cellular metabolic response following cisplatin treatment. BRCA2 ASO, in combination with cisplatin, is a potential therapeutic anti-cancer agent

A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: let us err on the side of caution

We greatly appreciate the care and thought that is evident in the 10 commentaries that discuss our debate paper, the majority of which argued in favor of a formalized ICD-11 gaming disorder. We agree that there are some people whose play of video games is related to life problems. We believe that understanding this population and the nature and severity of the problems they experience should be a focus area for future research. However, moving from research construct to formal disorder requires a much stronger evidence base than we currently have. The burden of evidence and the clinical utility should be extremely high, because there is a genuine risk of abuse of diagnoses. We provide suggestions about the level of evidence that might be required: transparent and preregistered studies, a better demarcation of the subject area that includes a rationale for focusing on gaming particularly versus a more general behavioral addictions concept, the exploration of non-addiction approaches, and the unbiased exploration of clinical approaches that treat potentially underlying issues, such as depressive mood or social anxiety first. We acknowledge there could be benefits to formalizing gaming disorder, many of which were highlighted by colleagues in their commentaries, but we think they do not yet outweigh the wider societal and public health risks involved. Given the gravity of diagnostic classification and its wider societal impact, we urge our colleagues at the WHO to err on the side of caution for now and postpone the formalization

Reproducibility and Sensitivity of Thirty-Six Methods to Quantify the SARS-CoV-2 Genetic Signal in Raw Wastewater: Findings from an Interlaboratory Methods Evaluation in the U.S.

In response to COVID-19, the international water community rapidly developed methods to quantify the SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal in untreated wastewater. Wastewater surveillance using such methods has the potential to complement clinical testing in assessing community health. This interlaboratory assessment evaluated the reproducibility and sensitivity of 36 standard operating procedures (SOPs), divided into eight method groups based on sample concentration approach and whether solids were removed. Two raw wastewater samples were collected in August 2020, amended with a matrix spike (betacoronavirus OC43), and distributed to 32 laboratories across the U.S. Replicate samples analyzed in accordance with the project\u27s quality assurance plan showed high reproducibility across the 36 SOPs: 80% of the recoverycorrected results fell within a band of ±1.15 log10 genome copies per L with higher reproducibility observed within a single SOP (standard deviation of 0.13 log10). The inclusion of a solids removal step and the selection of a concentration method did not show a clear, systematic impact on the recovery-corrected results. Other methodological variations (e.g., pasteurization, primer set selection, and use of RT-qPCR or RT-dPCR platforms) generally resulted in small differences compared to other sources of variability. These findings suggest that a variety of methods are capable of producing reproducible results, though the same SOP or laboratory should be selected to track SARS-CoV-2 trends at a given facility. The methods showed a 7 log10 range of recovery efficiency and limit of detection highlighting the importance of recovery correction and the need to consider method sensitivity when selecting methods for wastewater surveillance

InterMEL: An international biorepository and clinical database to uncover predictors of survival in early-stage melanoma

We are conducting a multicenter study to identify classifiers predictive of disease-specific survival in patients with primary melanomas. Here we delineate the unique aspects, challenges, and best practices for optimizing a study of generally small-sized pigmented tumor samples including primary melanomas of at least 1.05mm from AJTCC TNM stage IIA-IIID patients. We also evaluated tissue-derived predictors of extracted nucleic acids’ quality and success in downstream testing. This ongoing study will target 1,000 melanomas within the international InterMEL consortium.Medicin