Challenges of systematic reviewing integrative health care.

This article is based on an extensive review of integrative medicine (IM) and integrative health care (IHC). Since there is no general agreement of what constitutes IM/IHC, several major problems were identified that make the review of work in this field problematic. In applying the systematic review methodology, we found that many of those captured articles that used the term integrative medicine were in actuality referring to adjunctive, complementary, or supplemental medicine. The objective of this study was to apply a sensitivity analysis to demonstrate how the results of a systematic review of IM and IHC will differ according to what inclusion criteria is used based on the definition of IM/IHC. By analyzing 4 different scenarios, the authors show that, due to unclear usage of these terms, results vary dramatically, exposing an inconsistent literature base for this field

Senior Recital: Ian Reynolds Dimick, Guitar; Hsiao-Han Huang, Piano; April 9, 2010

Kemp Recital HallApril 9, 2010Friday Evening6:00 p.m

Printing stable liquid tracks on a surface with finite receding contact angle.

We have used high-speed imaging to study the formation of liquid tracks on a surface with nonzero receding contact angle, by the sequential deposition of liquid drops. For small drop spacing we found good agreement with the track morphology predicted by an existing line stability model. In addition, we confirmed definitively the preferential drop-to-bead fluid flow and the predicted drop spreading variation in the scalloped line and paired bead formation regimes. However, we found that without accounting for drop impact inertia, the model underestimated the maximum drop spreading radii and, hence, the instantaneous track width. In addition, the printed track became stable at larger drop spacing, in contrast to the expected behavior. We believe that the destabilizing effect of a receding contact line may be minimized when track radii, as predicted by volume conservation and drop-bead coalescence dynamics, converge as the drop spacing increases. An increase in viscous dissipation and a reduction of the capillary-driven flow may be the additional stabilization mechanisms. The latter may also be responsible for achieving a stable and symmetrical track when printing with a shorter interval (higher print frequency) at a given drop spacing.This project was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and industrial partners in the Programme Grant number EP/H018913/1 ‘Innovation in Industrial Inkjet Technology’.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la502490p

Protease signaling regulates apical cell extrusion, cell contacts, and proliferation in epithelia.

Mechanisms that sense and regulate epithelial morphogenesis, integrity, and homeostasis are incompletely understood. Protease-activated receptor 2 (Par2), the Par2-activating membrane-tethered protease matriptase, and its inhibitor, hepatocyte activator inhibitor 1 (Hai1), are coexpressed in most epithelia and may make up a local signaling system that regulates epithelial behavior. We explored the role of Par2b in matriptase-dependent skin abnormalities in Hai1a-deficient zebrafish embryos. We show an unexpected role for Par2b in regulation of epithelial apical cell extrusion, roles in regulating proliferation that were opposite in distinct but adjacent epithelial monolayers, and roles in regulating cell-cell junctions, mobility, survival, and expression of genes involved in tissue remodeling and inflammation. The epidermal growth factor receptor Erbb2 and matrix metalloproteinases, the latter induced by Par2b, may contribute to some matriptase- and Par2b-dependent phenotypes and be permissive for others. Our results suggest that local protease-activated receptor signaling can coordinate cell behaviors known to contribute to epithelial morphogenesis and homeostasis

Systematic Review of Integrative Health Care Research: Randomized Control Trials, Clinical Controlled Trials, and Meta-Analysis

A systematic review was conducted to assess the level of evidence for integrative health care research. We searched PubMed, Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED), BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, the entire Cochrane Library, MANTIS, Social SciSearch, SciSearch Cited Ref Sci, PsychInfo, CINAHL, and NCCAM grantee publications listings, from database inception to May 2009, as well as searches of the “gray literature.” Available studies published in English language were included. Three independent reviewers rated each article and assessed the methodological quality of studies using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN 50). Our search yielded 11,891 total citations but 6 clinical studies, including 4 randomized, met our inclusion criteria. There are no available systematic reviews/meta-analyses published that met our inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed independently using quality checklists of the SIGN 50. Only a small number of RCTs and CCTs with a limited number of patients and lack of adequate control groups assessing integrative health care research are available. These studies provide limited evidence of effective integrative health care on some modalities. However, integrative health care regimen appears to be generally safe

Adult rat retinal ganglion cells and glia can be printed by piezoelectric inkjet printing.

We have investigated whether inkjet printing technology can be extended to print cells of the adult rat central nervous system (CNS), retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and glia, and the effects on survival and growth of these cells in culture, which is an important step in the development of tissue grafts for regenerative medicine, and may aid in the cure of blindness. We observed that RGC and glia can be successfully printed using a piezoelectric printer. Whilst inkjet printing reduced the cell population due to sedimentation within the printing system, imaging of the printhead nozzle, which is the area where the cells experience the greatest shear stress and rate, confirmed that there was no evidence of destruction or even significant distortion of the cells during jet ejection and drop formation. Importantly, the viability of the cells was not affected by the printing process. When we cultured the same number of printed and non-printed RGC/glial cells, there was no significant difference in cell survival and RGC neurite outgrowth. In addition, use of a glial substrate significantly increased RGC neurite outgrowth, and this effect was retained when the cells had been printed. In conclusion, printing of RGC and glia using a piezoelectric printhead does not adversely affect viability and survival/growth of the cells in culture. Importantly, printed glial cells retain their growth-promoting properties when used as a substrate, opening new avenues for printed CNS grafts in regenerative medicine

The University of Washington Ice-Liquid Discriminator (UWILD) improves single-particle phase classifications of hydrometeors within Southern Ocean clouds using machine learning

Mixed-phase Southern Ocean clouds are challenging to simulate, and their representation in climate models is an important control on climate sensitivity. In particular, the amount of supercooled water and frozen mass that they contain in the present climate is a predictor of their planetary feedback in a warming climate. The recent Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES) vastly increased the amount of in situ data available from mixed-phase Southern Ocean clouds useful for model evaluation. Bulk measurements distinguishing liquid and ice water content are not available from SOCRATES, so single-particle phase classifications from the Two-Dimensional Stereo (2D-S) probe are invaluable for quantifying mixed-phase cloud properties. Motivated by the presence of large biases in existing phase discrimination algorithms, we develop a novel technique for single-particle phase classification of binary 2D-S images using a random forest algorithm, which we refer to as the University of Washington Ice-Liquid Discriminator (UWILD). UWILD uses 14 parameters computed from binary image data, as well as particle inter-arrival time, to predict phase. We use liquid-only and ice-dominated time periods within the SOCRATES dataset as training and testing data. This novel approach to model training avoids major pitfalls associated with using manually labeled data, including reduced model generalizability and high labor costs. We find that UWILD is well calibrated and has an overall accuracy of 95 % compared to 72 % and 79 % for two existing phase classification algorithms that we compare it with. UWILD improves classifications of small ice crystals and large liquid drops in particular and has more flexibility than the other algorithms to identify both liquid-dominated and ice-dominated regions within the SOCRATES dataset. UWILD misclassifies a small percentage of large liquid drops as ice. Such misclassified particles are typically associated with model confidence below 75 % and can easily be filtered out of the dataset. UWILD phase classifications show that particles with area-equivalent diameter (Deq) \u3c 0.17 mm are mostly liquid at all temperatures sampled, down to -40 °. Larger particles (Deq\u3e0.17 mm) are predominantly frozen at all temperatures below 0 °. Between 0 and 5 °, there are roughly equal numbers of frozen and liquid mid-sized particles (0.170.33 mm) are mostly frozen. We also use UWILD\u27s phase classifications to estimate sub-1 Hz phase heterogeneity, and we show examples of meter-scale cloud phase heterogeneity in the SOCRATES dataset

Echelle Spectroscopy of a GRB Afterglow at z=3.969: A New Probe of the Interstellar and Intergalactic Media in the Young Universe

We present an echelle spectrum of the Swift GRB 050730, obtained four hours after the burst using the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan Clay Telescope when the afterglow was at R=17.7. The spectrum reveals a forest of absorption features superimposed on a simple power-law shaped continuum, best described as f_nu(lambda)\propto lambda^{alpha} with alpha =1.88\pm 0.01 over lambda=7000-9000 A. We identify the GRB host at z_GRB=3.96855 based on the hydrogen Lyman absorption series, narrow absorption lines due to heavy ions such as OI, CII, SiII, SII, NiII, FeII, CIV, SiIV, and NV, and fine structure transitions such as OI*, OI**, SiII*, CII*, and FeII*. Together these transitions allow us to study the the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the GRB host. The principal results are as follows. (1) We estimate a neutral hydrogen column density of log N(HI)=22.15\pm 0.05 in the host. (2) The associated metal lines exhibit multiple components over a velocity range of ~80 km/s, with >90% of the neutral gas confined in 20 km/s. (3) Comparisons between different ionic transitions show that the host has little/no dust depletion and has 1/100 solar metallicity. (4) The absorbing gas has much higher density than that of intervening damped Lya absorption (DLA) systems. In addition, we report the identification of an intervening DLA system at z_DLA=3.56439 with log N(HI)=20.3\pm 0.1 and < 5% solar metallicity, a Lyman limit system at z_LLS=3.02209 with log N(HI)=19.9\pm 0.1, a strong MgII absorber at z_MgII=2.25313, and a pair of MgII absorbers at z_MgII=1.7731, 57 km/s apart. We demonstrate that rapid echelle spectroscopy of GRB afterglows helps to reveal a wealth of information in the ISM and the intergalactic medium along the sightline (abridged).Comment: 5 pages, including 2 figures; ApJ Letters in press (minor changes in response to the referee's comments