Geographic Information System Data Analysis

Data was collected in order to further NASA Langley Research Center's Geographic Information System(GIS). Information on LaRC's communication, electrical, and facility configurations was collected. Existing data was corrected through verification, resulting in more accurate databases. In addition, Global Positioning System(GPS) points were used in order to accurately impose buildings on digitized images. Overall, this project will help the Imaging and CADD Technology Team (ICTT) prove GIS to be a valuable resource for LaRC

Development and content validity of a patient reported outcomes measure to assess symptoms of major depressive disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although many symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are assessed through patient-report, there are currently no patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments that incorporate documented evidence of patient input in PRO instrument development. A review of existing PROs used in MDD suggested the need to conduct qualitative research with patients with MDD to better understand their experience of MDD and develop an evaluative instrument with content validity. The aim of this study was to develop a disease-specific questionnaire to assess symptoms important and relevant to adult MDD patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The questionnaire development involved qualitative interviews for concept elicitation, instrument development, and cognitive interviews to support content validity. For concept elicitation, ten MDD severity-specific focus group interviews with thirty-eight patients having clinician-confirmed diagnoses of MDD were conducted in January 2009. A semi-structured discussion guide was used to elicit patients' spontaneous descriptions of MDD symptoms. Verbatim transcripts of focus groups were coded and analyzed to develop a conceptual framework to describe MDD. A PRO instrument was developed by operationalizing concepts elicited in the conceptual framework. Cognitive interviews were carried out in patients (n = 20) to refine and test the content validity of the instrument in terms of item relevance and comprehension, instructions, recall period, and response categories.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Concept elicitation focus groups identified thirty-five unique concepts falling into several domains: i) emotional, ii) cognitive, iii) motivation, iv) work, v) sleep, vi) appetite, vii) social, viii) activities of daily living, ix) tired/fatigue, x) body pain, and xi) suicidality. Concept saturation, the point at which no new relevant information emerges in later interviews, was achieved for each of the concepts. Based on the qualitative findings, the PRO instrument developed had 15 daily and 20 weekly items. The cognitive interviews confirmed that the instructions, item content, and response scales were understood by the patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Rigorous qualitative research resulted in the development of a PRO measure for MDD with supported content validity. The MDD PRO can assist in understanding and assessing MDD symptoms from patients' perspectives as well as evaluating treatment benefit of new targeted therapies.</p

Estradiol alters the immune-responsiveness of cervical epithelial cells stimulated with ligands of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4.

The mucosa of the female reproductive tract plays a pivotal role in host defence. Pregnancy must alter immunological mechanisms at this interface to protect the conceptus. We sought to determine how estradiol (E2) alters the immune-responsiveness of cervical epithelial cells to ligand stimulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and -4. Human ectocervical epithelial cells (HECECs) were cultured and co-incubated with two concentrations of E2 and peptidoglycan (PGN) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) over durations that ranged between 10 minutes and 18 hours. Cytometric Bead Array was performed to quantify eight cytokines in the supernatant fluid. In response to PGN, HECECs co-incubated with E2 released lesser quantities of IL-1ß and IFNγ, higher levels of RANTES, and variable levels of IL-6 and IL-8 than those not exposed to E2. In contrast, HECECs co-incubated with LPS and E2 secreted increased levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, and IFNγ at 2 and 18 hours than HECECs not exposed to E2, and reduced levels of RANTES at same study time-points. Estradiol alters the immune-responsiveness of cultured HECECs to TLR2 and TLR4 ligands in a complex fashion that appears to vary with bacterial ligand, TLR subtype, and duration of exposure. Our observations are consistent with the functional complexity that this mucosal interface requires for its immunological roles

Business ethics competencies research: implications for Canadian practitioners

This paper describes a proposed framework of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that a practitioner who is competent in business ethics, compliance, or integrity should possess. These competencies may be leveraged as key input to selecting content for an institutionalized business ethics training program. The focus in this paper is on the management problem of 'What competencies are important for job performance of business ethics practitioners'. Phase I consisted of developing a provisional taxonomy of business ethics competencies and Phase II involved academic and industry practitioners implicated in business ethics to validate the conceptually developed provisional taxonomy of business ethics competencies to eventually make recommendations regarding the selection of business ethics training content. The contribution to the business ethics competency-based management knowledge that is presented in this paper is a proposed business ethics competency model and the implications of this model for Canadian practitioners are discussed