The Ursinus Weekly, April 8, 1912

Princeton wins • Paternalism: An oration delivered by Walter R. Douthett at Zwinglian anniversary • The three graces • The religion of Tolstoy • Arlingtonhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/2765/thumbnail.jp

A Diabetes Psychosocial Profile

An educational needs assessment instrument for individuals with diabetes has been developed at the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center. Responses to the 110-item questionnaire provide subscores on con structs labeled "Control Problems, " "Psychosocial Impact," "Barriers to Compliance, " "Benefits of Regimen, " "Regimen Complexity," and "Risk of Complications." Com bined with demographic and clinical information, these scores form a com prehensive summary of the patient's attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and knowledge in relation to diabetes. This summary is in the form of an individ ualized graphic profile that highlights possible prob lem areas to be consid ered when developing patient education and management plans.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68817/2/10.1177_014572178601200210.pd

Rare-isotope and kinetic studies of Pt/SnO2 catalysts

Closed-cycle pulsed CO2 laser operation requires the use of an efficient CO-O2 recombination catalyst for these dissociation products which otherwise would degrade the laser operation. The catalyst must not only operate at low temperatures but also must operate efficiently for long periods. In the case of the Laser Atmospheric Wind Sounder (LAWS) laser, an operational lifetime of 3 years is required. Additionally, in order to minimize atmospheric absorption and enhance aerosol scatter of laser radiation, the LAWS system will operate at 9.1 micrometers with an oxygen-18 isotope CO2 lasing medium. Consequently, the catalyst must not only operate at low temperatures but must also preserve the isotopic integrity of the rare-isotope composition in the recombination mode. Several years ago an investigation of commercially available and newly synthesized recombination catalysts for use in closed-cycle pulsed common and rare-isotope CO2 lasers was implemented at the NASA Langley Research Center. Since that time, mechanistic efforts utilizing both common and rare oxygen isotopes have been implemented and continue. Rare-isotope studies utilizing commercially available platinum-tin oxide catalyst have demonstrated that the catalyst contributes oxygen-16 to the product carbon dioxide thus rendering it unusable for rare-isotope applications. A technique has been developed for modification of the surface of the common-isotope catalyst to render it usable. Results of kinetic and isotope label studies using plug flow, recycle plug flow, and closed internal recycle plug flow reactor configuration modes are discussed

Pt/SnO2-based CO-oxidation catalysts for long-life closed-cycle CO2 lasers

Noble-metal/tin-oxide based catalysts such as Pt/SnO2 have been shown to be good catalysts for the efficient oxidation of CO at or near room temperature. These catalysts require a reductive pretreatment and traces of hydrogen or water to exhibit their full activity. Addition of Palladium enhances the activity of these catalysts with about 15 to 20 percent Pt, 4 percent Pd, and the balance SnO2 being an optimum composition. Unfortunately, these catalysts presently exhibit significant decay due in part to CO2 retention, probably as a bicarbonate. Research on minimizing the decay in activity of these catalysts is currently in progress. A proposed mechanism of CO oxidation on Pt/SnO2-based catalysts has been developed and is discussed

Genome Wide Association for Addiction: Replicated Results and Comparisons of Two Analytic Approaches

BACKGROUND: Vulnerabilities to dependence on addictive substances are substantially heritable complex disorders whose underlying genetic architecture is likely to be polygenic, with modest contributions from variants in many individual genes. "Nontemplate" genome wide association (GWA) approaches can identity groups of chromosomal regions and genes that, taken together, are much more likely to contain allelic variants that alter vulnerability to substance dependence than expected by chance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report pooled "nontemplate" genome-wide association studies of two independent samples of substance dependent vs control research volunteers (n = 1620), one European-American and the other African-American using 1 million SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) Affymetrix genotyping arrays. We assess convergence between results from these two samples using two related methods that seek clustering of nominally-positive results and assess significance levels with Monte Carlo and permutation approaches. Both "converge then cluster" and "cluster then converge" analyses document convergence between the results obtained from these two independent datasets in ways that are virtually never found by chance. The genes identified in this fashion are also identified by individually-genotyped dbGAP data that compare allele frequencies in cocaine dependent vs control individuals. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These overlapping results identify small chromosomal regions that are also identified by genome wide data from studies of other relevant samples to extents much greater than chance. These chromosomal regions contain more genes related to "cell adhesion" processes than expected by chance. They also contain a number of genes that encode potential targets for anti-addiction pharmacotherapeutics. "Nontemplate" GWA approaches that seek chromosomal regions in which nominally-positive associations are found in multiple independent samples are likely to complement classical, "template" GWA approaches in which "genome wide" levels of significance are sought for SNP data from single case vs control comparisons

Outcomes of patients with advanced cancer and KRAS mutations in phase I clinical trials.

BackgroundKRAS mutation is common in human cancer. We assessed the clinical factors, including type of KRAS mutation and treatment, of patients with advanced cancer and tumor KRAS mutations and their association with treatment outcomes.MethodsPatients referred to the Phase I Clinic for treatment who underwent testing for KRAS mutations were analyzed.ResultsOf 1,781 patients, 365 (21%) had a KRAS mutation. The G12D mutation was the most common mutation (29%). PIK3CA mutations were found in 24% and 10% of patients with and without KRAS mutations (p<0.0001). Of 223 patients with a KRAS mutation who were evaluable for response, 56 were treated with a MEK inhibitor-containing therapy and 167 with other therapies. The clinical benefit (partial response and stable disease lasting ≥6 months) rates were 23% and 9%, respectively, for the MEK inhibitor versus other therapies (p=0.005). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.3 and 2.2 months, respectively (p=0.09). The respective median overall survival was 8.4 and 7.0 months (p=0.38). Of 66 patients with a KRAS mutation and additional alterations, higher rates of clinical benefit (p=0.04), PFS (p=0.045), and overall survival (p=0.02) were noted in patients treated with MEK inhibitor-containing therapy (n=9) compared to those treated with targeted therapy matched to the additional alterations (n=24) or other therapy (n=33).ConclusionsMEK inhibitors in patients with KRAS-mutated advanced cancer were associated with higher clinical benefit rates compared to other therapies. Therapeutic strategies that include MEK inhibitors or novel agents combined with other targeted therapies or chemotherapy need further investigation

Catalysts for long-life closed-cycle CO2 lasers

Long-life, closed-cycle operation of pulsed CO2 lasers requires catalytic CO-O2 recombination both to remove O2, which is formed by discharge-induced CO2 decomposition, and to regenerate CO2. Platinum metal on a tin (IV) oxide substrate (Pt/SnO2) has been found to be an effective catalyst for such recombination in the desired temperature range of 25 to 100 C. This paper presents a description of ongoing research at NASA-LaRC on Pt/SnO2 catalyzed CO-O2 recombination. Included are studies with rare-isotope gases since rare-isotope CO2 is desirable as a laser gas for enhanced atmospheric transmission. Results presented include: (1) achievement of 98% to 100% conversion of a stoichiometric mixture of CO and O2 to CO2 for 318 hours (greater than 1 x 10 to the 6th power seconds), continuous, at a catalyst temperature of 60 C, and (2) development of a technique verified in a 30-hour test, to prevent isotopic scrambling when CO-18 and O-18(2) are reacted in the presence of a common-isotope Pt/Sn O-16(2) catalyst

Retreatment with anti-EGFR based therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer: impact of intervening time interval and prior anti-EGFR response.

BackgroundThis retrospective study aims to investigate the activity of retreatment with anti-EGFR-based therapies in order to explore the concept of clonal evolution by evaluating the impact of prior activity and intervening time interval.MethodsEighty-nine KRAS exon 2-wild-type metastatic colorectal patients were retreated on phase I/II clinical trials containing anti-EGFR therapies after progressing on prior cetuximab or panitumumab. Response on prior anti-EGFR therapy was defined retrospectively per physician-records as response or stable disease ≥6 months. Multivariable statistical methods included a multiple logistic regression model for response, and Cox proportional hazards model for progression-free survival.ResultsRetreatment anti-EGFR agents were cetuximab (n = 76) or cetuximab plus erlotinib (n = 13). The median interval time between prior and retreatment regimens was 4.57 months (range: 0.46-58.7). Patients who responded to the prior cetuximab or panitumumab were more likely to obtain clinical benefit to the retreatment compared to the non-responders in both univariate (p = 0.007) and multivariate analyses (OR: 3.38, 95 % CI: 1.27, 9.31, p = 0.019). The clinical benefit rate on retreatment also showed a marginally significant association with interval time between the two anti-EGFR based therapies (p = 0.053). Median progression-free survival on retreatment was increased in prior responders (4.9 months, 95 % CI: 3.6, 6.2) compared to prior non-responders (2.5 months, 95 % CI, 1.58, 3.42) in univariate (p = 0.064) and multivariate analysis (HR: 0.70, 95 % CI: 0.43-1.15, p = 0.156).ConclusionOur data lends support to the concept of clonal evolution, though the clinical impact appears less robust than previously reported. Further work to determine which patients benefit from retreatment post progression is needed

Reactivation of a tin oxide-containing catalyst

A method for the reactivation of a tin oxide-containing catalyst of a CO.sub.2 laser is provided. First, the catalyst is pretreated by a standard procedure. When the catalyst experiences diminished activity during usage, the heated zone surrounding the catalyst is raised to a temperature which is the operating temperature of the laser and 400.degree. C. for approximately one hour. The catalyst is exposed to the same laser gas mixture during this period. The temperature of the heated zone is then lowered to the operating temperature of the CO.sub.2 laser

Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Public Health Practice: Using Adaptive Management to Increase Adaptive Capacity and Build Resilience

Background: Climate change is expected to have a range of health impacts, some of which are already apparent. Public health adaptation is imperative, but there has been little discussion of how to increase adaptive capacity and resilience in public health systems