Junior Recital: Andrew J. Yi, Percussion

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Music Performance. Mr. Yi studies percussion with John Lawless.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2286/thumbnail.jp

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Adolescents\u27 Behaviors, Fitness, and Knowledge Related to Active Living before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis

BACKGROUND: Nearly all schools in the United States experienced shutdown followed by phased reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby limiting students\u27 opportunities for physical activity (PA). This study aimed to examine adolescents\u27 PA at school (PAS) and PA out-of-school (PAO), screen-based sedentary behaviors (SbSB), health-related fitness, and knowledge understanding about PA and fitness before and during the pandemic. METHODS: Three rounds of data were collected: Time 1 pre-pandemic (January 2020; = 405), Time 2 schools partially reopened (February 2021; = 412), and Time 3 schools fully reopened (March 2021; = 450). Adolescents completed the Youth Activity Profile, the 20 m Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test and Plank test, and a written test, to measure the behaviors (T1, T2, T3), fitness (T2-T3), and knowledge (T1, T2, T3), respectively. RESULTS: Inferential statistical analyses revealed a significant time effect for the behaviors and fitness. From T1 to T2 PAO decreased but PAS increased; whereas SbSB decreased at T3 compared to T1 and T2. Health-related fitness improved from T2 to T3. Further, the change patterns for SbSB varied by grade, and those for knowledge understanding varied by gender. CONCLUSION: The findings confirm the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents\u27 active living but varied by school grade and gender. The favorable changes from T2 to T3 observed for fitness and other constructs may be partially attributable to an interrupted fitness education intervention. The findings may guide the design and evaluation of future interventions addressing the physical inactivity pandemic during public health crises (e.g., COVID-19)

Promoting Successful Weight Loss in Primary Care in Louisiana (PROPEL): Rationale, design and baseline characteristics

Underserved and minority populations suffer from a disproportionately high prevalence of obesity and related comorbidities. Effective obesity treatment programs delivered in primary care that produce significant weight loss are currently lacking. The purpose of this trial is to test the effectiveness of a pragmatic, high intensity lifestyle-based obesity treatment program delivered within primary care among an underserved population. We hypothesize that, relative to patients who receive usual care, patients who receive a high-intensity, health literacy- and culturally-appropriate lifestyle intervention will have greater percent reductions in body weight over 24 months. Eighteen clinics (N = 803 patients) serving low income populations with a high proportion of African Americans in Louisiana were randomized to the intervention or usual car. Patients in the intervention participate in a high-intensity lifestyle program delivered by health coaches employed by an academic health center and embedded in the primary care clinics. The program consists of weekly (16 in-person/6 telephone) sessions in the first six months, followed by sessions held at least monthly for the remaining 18 months. Primary care practitioners in usual care receive information on weight management and the current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimbursement for obesity treatment. The primary outcome is percent weight loss at 24 months. Secondary outcomes include absolute 24-month changes in body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose and lipids, health-related quality of life, and weight-related quality of life. The results will provide evidence on the effectiveness of implementing high-intensity lifestyle and obesity counseling in primary care settings among underserved populations.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02561221

Observation of WWWWWW Production in pppp Collisions at s\sqrt s =13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

International audienceThis Letter reports the observation of $WWW$ production and a measurement of its cross section using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from $WWW$ production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive $WWW$ production cross section is measured to be $820 \pm 100\,\text{(stat)} \pm 80\,\text{(syst)}$ fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of $511 \pm 18$ fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy

Observation of WWWWWW Production in pppp Collisions at s\sqrt s =13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

International audienceThis Letter reports the observation of $WWW$ production and a measurement of its cross section using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from $WWW$ production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive $WWW$ production cross section is measured to be $820 \pm 100\,\text{(stat)} \pm 80\,\text{(syst)}$ fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of $511 \pm 18$ fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy

Observation of WWWWWW Production in pppp Collisions at s\sqrt s =13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

International audienceThis Letter reports the observation of $WWW$ production and a measurement of its cross section using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from $WWW$ production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive $WWW$ production cross section is measured to be $820 \pm 100\,\text{(stat)} \pm 80\,\text{(syst)}$ fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of $511 \pm 18$ fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy

Observation of WWWWWW Production in pppp Collisions at s\sqrt s =13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

International audienceThis Letter reports the observation of $WWW$ production and a measurement of its cross section using 139 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from $WWW$ production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive $WWW$ production cross section is measured to be $820 \pm 100\,\text{(stat)} \pm 80\,\text{(syst)}$ fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of $511 \pm 18$ fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy