Plasma-induced selectivity in bone cancer cells death

Background Current therapies for bone cancers - either primary or metastatic – are difficult to implement and unfortunately not completely effective. An alternative therapy could be found in cold plasmas generated at atmospheric pressure which have already demonstrated selective anti-tumor action in a number of carcinomas and in more relatively rare brain tumors. However, its effects on bone cancer are still unknown. Methods Herein, we employed an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) to validate its selectivity towards osteosarcoma cell line vs. osteoblasts & human mesenchymal stem cells. Results Cytotoxicity following direct interaction of APPJ with cells is comparable to indirect interaction when only liquid medium is treated and subsequently added to the cells, especially on the long-term (72 h of cell culture). Moreover, following contact of the APPJ treated medium with cells, delayed effects are observed which lead to 100% bone cancer cell death through apoptosis (decreased cell viability with incubation time in contact with APPJ treated medium from 24 h to 72 h), while healthy cells remain fully viable and unaffected by the treatment. Conclusions The high efficiency of the indirect treatment indicates that an important role is played by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in the gaseous plasma stage and then transmitted to the liquid phase, which overall lead to lethal and selective action towards osteosarcoma cells. These findings open new pathways for treatment of metastatic bone disease with a minimally invasive approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Technical development of PubMed Interact: an improved interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches

BACKGROUND: The project aims to create an alternative search interface for MEDLINE/PubMed that may provide assistance to the novice user and added convenience to the advanced user. An earlier version of the project was the 'Slider Interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches' (SLIM) which provided JavaScript slider bars to control search parameters. In this new version, recent developments in Web-based technologies were implemented. These changes may prove to be even more valuable in enhancing user interactivity through client-side manipulation and management of results. RESULTS: PubMed Interact is a Web-based MEDLINE/PubMed search application built with HTML, JavaScript and PHP. It is implemented on a Windows Server 2003 with Apache 2.0.52, PHP 4.4.1 and MySQL 4.1.18. PHP scripts provide the backend engine that connects with E-Utilities and parses XML files. JavaScript manages client-side functionalities and converts Web pages into interactive platforms using dynamic HTML (DHTML), Document Object Model (DOM) tree manipulation and Ajax methods. With PubMed Interact, users can limit searches with JavaScript slider bars, preview result counts, delete citations from the list, display and add related articles and create relevance lists. Many interactive features occur at client-side, which allow instant feedback without reloading or refreshing the page resulting in a more efficient user experience. CONCLUSION: PubMed Interact is a highly interactive Web-based search application for MEDLINE/PubMed that explores recent trends in Web technologies like DOM tree manipulation and Ajax. It may become a valuable technical development for online medical search applications

Some mechanisms leading to underdispersion : Old and new proposals

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABIn statistical modeling, it is important to know the mechanisms that cause underdispersion. Several mechanisms that lead to underdispersed count distributions are revisited from new perspectives, and new ones are introduced. These include procedures based on the number of arrivals in arrival processes, such as renewal and pure birth processes and steady-state distributions of birth-death processes, like queues with state-dependent service rates. Weighted Poisson and other well-known underdispersed distributions are also related to birth-death processes. Classical and variable binomial thinning mechanisms are also viewed as important procedures for generating underdispersed distributions, which can also generate bivariate count distributions with negative correlation. Some example applications are shown, one of which is related to Biodosimetry

Fabrication, process optimization and copper electroplating for Through Silicon Vias metal contacts

With the growing demand for Three-dimensional integrated circuits, wafers with through-silicon connections are highly advantageous, enabling for more compact designs. For the past decades, electroplating has been effectively used for metal insertion in through-silicon vias (TSVs). However, there remains a need for cost- efficient processes and viable wafer designs. This project aimed to replicate this TSV technology for vias with significantly larger diameters than previously reported, exploring various designs and methods through trial and error clean-room work. Two types of vias were tested: 200 μm vias created by laser and 110 μm vias produced by Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE), with greater emphasis on the latter. By drilling the vias post-wafer processing, promising results were achieved, including a reproducible process for vertical and selective etching. Although copper deposition proved challenging to control, this project presents a potentially viable alternative to established methods in the field. Detailed recipes for Sputtering, DRIE, Reactive Ion Etching, Spin-coating, UV Mask Aligner, and Electroplating that were all tuned, optimized or created in this project, are provided in the docu- ment.Com a introdução e evolução de circuitos integrados tri-dimensionais, as wafers com ligações através do silício são altamente vantajosas, permitindo designs mais compactos. Durante as últimas decadas, a eletrodeposição tem sido utilizada eficazmente para inserir metais em Through-silicon vias (TSVs). No entanto, continua a existir a necessidade de processos que apresentem custos reduzidos e de designs de bolachas viáveis. Este projeto teve como objetivo replicar a tecnologia TSV para vias com diâmetros significativamente maiores do que os relatados anteriormente, explorando vários designs e métodos através de trabalho desenvolvido em ambiente de sala limpa, numa base de tentativa e erro. Foram testados dois tipos de vias: vias de 200 μm criadas por laser e vias de 110 μm produzidas por Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE), com maior ênfase nesta última. Ao perfurar as vias após o processamento da wafer, foram alcançados resultados promissores, incluindo um processo de fácil reprodução, que apresenta um etching vertical e selectivo. Embora a deposição de cobre tenha sido difícil de controlar, este projeto apresenta uma alternativa potencialmente viável aos métodos estabelecidos neste domínio. As receitas detalhadas para Sputtering, DRIE, Reactive Ion Etching, Spin-coating, UV Mask Aligner e Electroplating, todas optimizadas neste projeto, também se encontram presentes no documento

SLIM: an alternative Web interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches – a preliminary study

BACKGROUND: With the rapid growth of medical information and the pervasiveness of the Internet, online search and retrieval systems have become indispensable tools in medicine. The progress of Web technologies can provide expert searching capabilities to non-expert information seekers. The objective of the project is to create an alternative search interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches using JavaScript slider bars. SLIM, or Slider Interface for MEDLINE/PubMed searches, was developed with PHP and JavaScript. Interactive slider bars in the search form controlled search parameters such as limits, filters and MeSH terminologies. Connections to PubMed were done using the Entrez Programming Utilities (E-Utilities). Custom scripts were created to mimic the automatic term mapping process of Entrez. Page generation times for both local and remote connections were recorded. RESULTS: Alpha testing by developers showed SLIM to be functionally stable. Page generation times to simulate loading times were recorded the first week of alpha and beta testing. Average page generation times for the index page, previews and searches were 2.94 milliseconds, 0.63 seconds and 3.84 seconds, respectively. Eighteen physicians from the US, Australia and the Philippines participated in the beta testing and provided feedback through an online survey. Most users found the search interface user-friendly and easy to use. Information on MeSH terms and the ability to instantly hide and display abstracts were identified as distinctive features. CONCLUSION: SLIM can be an interactive time-saving tool for online medical literature research that improves user control and capability to instantly refine and refocus search strategies. With continued development and by integrating search limits, methodology filters, MeSH terms and levels of evidence, SLIM may be useful in the practice of evidence-based medicine

Inspiring students to pursue science: a program evaluation of Pitt summer science outreach

Elementary and middle school children in low-income communities often do not receive engaging science curriculum and also role models for careers in science, resulting in a lack of interest in science and lower rates of students who pursue scientific careers. Pitt Summer Science Outreach is a summer camp that brings science education to students in grades 4 through 6 at various underserved YMCA/YWCA locations in the city of Pittsburgh. The camp is offered by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and brings together scientists, college student mentors, and uses sustained experiments to provide a positive, engaging, and memorable experience with science. For 2013, the camp had two curricula: Science of Nutrition and Exercise and Laboratory in Your Bedroom. The goal of the summer program is to inspire a lifelong interest in science in the elementary school students who attend. The program was evaluated using semi-structured interviews with all students who attended to measure participants’ comfort with science. In addition, the evaluation team used a social networking activity to measure with whom the participants were discussing camp, and an art activity inspired by the creative painting and writing “Visual Voices” methodology to assess participants’ favorite activities. Several themes emerged from the evaluation. We documented that the students were engaged in camp activities, enjoyed hands-on learning, and desired to return to the camp the following year. The social networking activity showed that participants were discussing camp with family and friends who did not attend camp. Finally, participants enthusiastically enjoyed the curricula as determined by the evaluation. A number of the students expressed that they felt more confident in their ability to do science and may have an interest in pursuing career in a scientific field. The public health significance of Pitt Summer Science Outreach is its effect on the social determinants of health. By providing engaging science education in underserved communities, the program enables participants the means to improve their health outcomes and impact the conditions in which they live

Development of a cross-cultural deprivation index in five European countries.

BACKGROUND: Despite a concerted policy effort in Europe, social inequalities in health are a persistent problem. Developing a standardised measure of socioeconomic level across Europe will improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms and causes of inequalities. This will facilitate developing, implementing and assessing new and more effective policies, and will improve the comparability and reproducibility of health inequality studies among countries. This paper presents the extension of the European Deprivation Index (EDI), a standardised measure first developed in France, to four other European countries-Italy, Portugal, Spain and England, using available 2001 and 1999 national census data. METHODS AND RESULTS: The method previously tested and validated to construct the French EDI was used: first, an individual indicator for relative deprivation was constructed, defined by the minimal number of unmet fundamental needs associated with both objective (income) poverty and subjective poverty. Second, variables available at both individual (European survey) and aggregate (census) levels were identified. Third, an ecological deprivation index was constructed by selecting the set of weighted variables from the second step that best correlated with the individual deprivation indicator. CONCLUSIONS: For each country, the EDI is a weighted combination of aggregated variables from the national census that are most highly correlated with a country-specific individual deprivation indicator. This tool will improve both the historical and international comparability of studies, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying social inequalities in health and implementation of intervention to tackle social inequalities in health

An exact goodness-of-fit test based on the occupancy problems to study zero-inflation and zero-deflation in biological dosimetry data

The goal in biological dosimetry is to estimate the dose of radiation that a suspected irradiated individual has received. For that, the analysis of aberrations (most commonly dicentric chromosome aberrations) in scored cells is performed and dose response calibration curves are built. In whole body irradiation (WBI) with X- and gamma-rays, the number of aberrations in samples is properly described by the Poisson distribution, although in partial body irradiation (PBI) the excess of zeros provided by the non-irradiated cells leads, for instance, to the Zero-Inflated Poisson distribution. Different methods are used to analyse the dosimetry data taking into account the distribution of the sample. In order to test the Poisson distribution against the Zero-Inflated Poisson distribution, several asymptotic and exact methods have been proposed which are focused on the dispersion of the data. In this work, we suggest an exact test for the Poisson distribution focused on the zero-inflation of the data developed by Rao and Chakravarti (Some small sample tests of significance for a Poisson distribution. Biometrics 1956;12 : 264–82.), derived from the problems of occupancy. An approximation based on the standard Normal distribution is proposed in those cases where the computation of the exact test can be tedious. A Monte Carlo Simulation study was performed in order to estimate empirical confidence levels and powers of the exact test and other tests proposed in the literature. Different examples of applications based on in vitro data and also data recorded in several radiation accidents are presented and discussed. A Shiny application which computes the exact test and other interesting goodness-of-fit tests for the Poisson distribution is presented in order to provide them to all interested researchers

Privacy Attitudes toward Mouse-Tracking Paradata Collection

Survey participants' mouse movements provide a rich, unobtrusive source of paradata, offering insight into the response process beyond the observed answers. However, the use of mouse tracking may require participants' explicit consent for their movements to be recorded and analyzed. Thus, the question arises of how its presence affects the willingness of participants to take part in a survey at all-if prospective respondents are reluctant to complete a survey if additional measures are recorded, collecting paradata may do more harm than good. Previous research has found that other paradata collection modes reduce the willingness to participate, and that this decrease may be influenced by the specific motivation provided to participants for collecting the data. However, the effects of mouse movement collection on survey consent and participation have not been addressed so far. In a vignette experiment, we show that reported willingness to participate in a survey decreased when mouse tracking was part of the overall consent. However, a larger proportion of the sample indicated willingness to both take part and provide mouse-tracking data when these decisions were combined, compared to an independent opt-in to paradata collection, separated from the decision to complete the study. This suggests that survey practitioners may face a trade-off between maximizing their overall participation rate and maximizing the number of participants who also provide mouse-tracking data. Explaining motivations for paradata collection did not have a positive effect and, in some cases, even reduced participants' reported willingness to take part in the survey