242 research outputs found
Designing for Ballet Classes: Identifying and Mitigating Communication Challenges Between Dancers and Teachers
Dancer-teacher communication in a ballet class can be challenging: ballet is one of the most complex forms of movements, and learning happens through multi-faceted interactions with studio tools (mirror, barre, and floor) and the teacher. We conducted an interview-based qualitative study with seven ballet teachers and six dancers followed by an open-coded analysis to explore the communication challenges that arise while teaching and learning in the ballet studio. We identified key communication issues, including adapting to multi-level dancer expertise, transmitting and realigning development goals, providing personalized corrections and feedback, maintaining the state of flow, and communicating how to properly use tools in the environment. We discuss design implications for crafting technological interventions aimed at mitigating these communication challenges
Big signals from small particles: regulation of cell signaling pathways by nanoparticles
Extended Abstract Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), due to their antibacterial properties are widely used as additives to textiles, cosmetics, food packaging, surgical instruments or wound dressings. Being present in so many consumer goods, AgNPs are able to penetrate the human body via multiple paths Our objective was to assess the possible interference of AgNPs (20 nm, BSA coated) with cellular response to TNF in two human cell lines: A549 lung adenocarcinoma and HepG2 liver hepatocellular carcinoma. Both types of cells absorbed AgNPs added to the medium as shown cytometrically by using side-scattered light. During 24-hour incubation, the effect of TNF and AgNPs on growth retardation and the incidence of cell death was additive and HepG2 cells were more sensitive to the agents studied. Analysis of the cell cycle discovered G1 arrest after TNF and S and G2/M arrest under AgNPs influence in both cell lines, whereas the combined treatment resulted in G1 and S accumulation in A549 and G2/M accumulation in HepG2 cells. Over a longer incubation period (7-12 days), in the clonogenicity test, the effect of TNF and AgNPs on the cell survival was synergistic. The effect of the selected signaling pathways inhibitors was tested using neutral red viability 24-hour assay. Surprisingly, the use of IKK II and IKK VII -the inhi -pathway -led to the increase of the cell viability in both cell lines treated with TNF, AgNPs or both agents simultaneously. Apart from end cellular effects, the expression of genes involved in the anti-oxidative defense and inflammatory response was analyzed by using real-time PCR. It was shown that the expression of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1), the protein induced by oxidative stress, was greatly enhanced in TNF and AgNPs treated cells compared to that observed after TNF alone. Similarly, AgNPs augmented the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines CSF3 and IL-10. On the contrary, the expression of toll-like receptors TLR3 and TLR7, important for virus pathogen recognition, was significantly hampered by the addition of AgNPs. The presented results indicate that AgNPs change the final cellular result of TNF action and disrupt the cellular homeostasis, that can contribute to the development of malignancy or autoimmune diseases at the level of the organism. Therefore, an extended study is needed to provide more information about the nature and specificity of the functional interactions between TNF and AgNPs in cells
An eclipsing binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to 2 per cent
In the era of precision cosmology it is essential to determine the Hubble
Constant with an accuracy of 3% or better. Currently, its uncertainty is
dominated by the uncertainty in the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC) which as the second nearest galaxy serves as the best anchor point of the
cosmic distance scale. Observations of eclipsing binaries offer a unique
opportunity to precisely and accurately measure stellar parameters and
distances. The eclipsing binary method was previously applied to the LMC but
the accuracy of the distance results was hampered by the need to model the
bright, early-type systems used in these studies. Here, we present distance
determinations to eight long-period, late- type eclipsing systems in the LMC
composed of cool giant stars. For such systems we can accurately measure both
the linear and angular sizes of their components and avoid the most important
problems related to the hot early-type systems. Our LMC distance derived from
these systems is demonstrably accurate to 2.2 % (49.97 +/- 0.19 (statistical)
+/- 1.11 (systematic) kpc) providing a firm base for a 3 % determination of the
Hubble Constant, with prospects for improvement to 2 % in the future.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, 13 tables, published in the Nature, a part of
our data comes from new unpublished OGLE-IV photometric dat
Binary Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Evidence for Excess Clustering on Small Scales
We present a sample of 218 new quasar pairs with proper transverse
separations R_prop < 1 Mpc/h over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 3.0, discovered
from an extensive follow up campaign to find companions around the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey and 2dF Quasar Redshift Survey quasars. This sample includes
26 new binary quasars with separations R_prop < 50 kpc/h (theta < 10
arcseconds), more than doubling the number of such systems known. We define a
statistical sample of binaries selected with homogeneous criteria and compute
its selection function, taking into account sources of incompleteness. The
first measurement of the quasar correlation function on scales 10 kpc/h <
R_prop < 400 kpc/h is presented. For R_prop < 40 kpc/h, we detect an order of
magnitude excess clustering over the expectation from the large scale R_prop >
3 Mpc/h quasar correlation function, extrapolated down as a power law to the
separations probed by our binaries. The excess grows to ~ 30 at R_prop ~ 10
kpc/h, and provides compelling evidence that the quasar autocorrelation
function gets progressively steeper on sub-Mpc scales. This small scale excess
can likely be attributed to dissipative interaction events which trigger quasar
activity in rich environments. Recent small scale measurements of galaxy
clustering and quasar-galaxy clustering are reviewed and discussed in relation
to our measurement of small scale quasar clustering.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables. Submitted to the Astronomical Journa
A polygenic risk score for multiple myeloma risk prediction
There is overwhelming epidemiologic evidence that the risk of multiple myeloma (MM) has a solid genetic background. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 23 risk loci that contribute to the genetic susceptibility of MM, but have low individual penetrance. Combining the SNPs in a polygenic risk score (PRS) is a possible approach to improve their usefulness. Using 2361 MM cases and 1415 controls from the International Multiple Myeloma rESEarch (IMMEnSE) consortium, we computed a weighted and an unweighted PRS. We observed associations with MM risk with OR = 3.44, 95% CI 2.53–4.69, p = 3.55 × 10−15 for the highest vs. lowest quintile of the weighted score, and OR = 3.18, 95% CI 2.1 = 34–4.33, p = 1.62 × 10−13 for the highest vs. lowest quintile of the unweighted score. We found a convincing association of a PRS generated with 23 SNPs and risk of MM. Our work provides additional validation of previously discovered MM risk variants and of their combination into a PRS, which is a first step towards the use of genetics for risk stratification in the general population
Expression quantitative trait loci of genes predicting outcome are associated with survival of multiple myeloma patients
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Grant/
Award Number: 81274; Huntsman Cancer
Institute Pilot Funds; Leukemia Lymphoma
Society, Grant/Award Number: 6067-09; the
National Institute of Health/National Cancer
Institute, Grant/Award Numbers: P30
CA016672, P30 CA042014, P30 CA13148,
P50 CA186781, R01 CA107476, R01
CA134674, R01 CA168762, R01 CA186646,
R01 CA235026, R21 CA155951, R25 CA092049, R25 CA47888, U54 CA118948;
Utah Population Database, Utah Cancer
Registry, Huntsman Cancer Center Support
Grant, Utah State Department of Health,
University of Utah; VicHealth, Cancer Council
Victoria, Australian National Health and
Medical Research Council, Grant/Award
Numbers: 1074383, 209057, 396414;
Victorian Cancer Registry, Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare, Australian National
Death Index, Australian Cancer Database;
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center; University of Pisa
and DKFZThe authors thank all site investigators that contributed to the studies
within the Multiple Myeloma Working Group (Interlymph Consortium),
staff involved at each site and, most importantly, the study participants
for their contributions that made our study possible. This work was partially
supported by intramural funds of University of Pisa and DKFZ. This
work was supported in part by the National Institute of Health/National
Cancer Institute (R25 CA092049, P30 CA016672, R01 CA134674, P30
CA042014, R01 CA186646, R21 CA155951, U54 CA118948, P30
CA13148, R25 CA47888, R01 CA235026, R01 CA107476, R01
CA168762, P50 CA186781 and the NCI Intramural Research Program),
Leukemia Lymphoma Society (6067-09), Huntsman Cancer Institute
Pilot Funds, Utah PopulationDatabase, Utah Cancer Registry, Huntsman
Cancer Center Support Grant, Utah StateDepartment of Health, University
of Utah, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant number
81274), VicHealth, Cancer Council Victoria, Australian National Health
and Medical Research Council (Grants 209057, 396414, 1074383), Victorian
Cancer Registry, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,
Australian National Death Index, Australian Cancer Database and the
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.Open Access funding enabled and organized
by ProjektDEAL.The data that support the findings of this study are available on
request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly
available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.Gene expression profiling can be used for predicting survival in multiple myeloma (MM) and identifying patients who will benefit from particular types of therapy. Some germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) act as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) showing strong associations with gene expression levels. We performed an association study to test whether eQTLs of genes reported to be associated with prognosis of MM patients are directly associated with measures of adverse outcome. Using the genotype-tissue expression portal, we identified a total of 16 candidate genes with at least one eQTL SNP associated with their expression with P < 10(-7) either in EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes or whole blood. We genotyped the resulting 22 SNPs in 1327 MM cases from the International Multiple Myeloma rESEarch (IMMEnSE) consortium and examined their association with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), adjusting for age, sex, country of origin and disease stage. Three polymorphisms in two genes (TBRG4-rs1992292, TBRG4-rs2287535 and ENTPD1-rs2153913) showed associations with OS at P < .05, with the former two also associated with PFS. The associations of two polymorphisms in TBRG4 with OS were replicated in 1277 MM cases from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology (InterLymph) Consortium. A meta-analysis of the data from IMMEnSE and InterLymph (2579 cases) showed that TBRG4-rs1992292 is associated with OS (hazard ratio = 1.14, 95% confidence interval 1.04-1.26, P = .007). In conclusion, we found biologically a plausible association between a SNP in TBRG4 and OS of MM patients.Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
81274Huntsman Cancer Institute Pilot FundsLeukemia and Lymphoma Society
6067-09United States Department of Health & Human Services
National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA
NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI)
P30 CA016672
P30 CA042014
P30 CA13148
P50 CA186781
R01 CA107476
R01 CA134674
R01 CA168762
R01 CA186646
R01 CA235026
R21 CA155951
R25 CA092049
R25 CA47888
U54 CA118948Utah Population Database, Utah Cancer Registry, Huntsman Cancer Center Support Grant, Utah State Department of Health, University of UtahVicHealth, Cancer Council Victoria, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
1074383
209057
396414Victorian Cancer Registry, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian National Death Index, Australian Cancer DatabaseMayo Clinic Cancer CenterUniversity of PisaHelmholtz Associatio
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