Roadmap to a Comprehensive Clinical Data Warehouse for Precision Medicine Applications in Oncology

Leading institutions throughout the country have established Precision Medicine programs to support personalized treatment of patients. A cornerstone for these programs is the establishment of enterprise-wide Clinical Data Warehouses. Working shoulder-to-shoulder, a team of physicians, systems biologists, engineers, and scientists at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have designed, developed, and implemented the Warehouse with information originating from data sources, including Electronic Medical Records, Clinical Trial Management Systems, Tumor Registries, Biospecimen Repositories, Radiology and Pathology archives, and Next Generation Sequencing services. Innovative solutions were implemented to detect and extract unstructured clinical information that was embedded in paper/text documents, including synoptic pathology reports. Supporting important precision medicine use cases, the growing Warehouse enables physicians to systematically mine and review the molecular, genomic, image-based, and correlated clinical information of patient tumors individually or as part of large cohorts to identify changes and patterns that may influence treatment decisions and potential outcomes

Analysis of T Cell Subsets in Adult Primary/Idiopathic Minimal Change Disease: A Pilot Study

Aim. To characterise infiltrating T cells in kidneys and circulating lymphocyte subsets of adult patients with primary/idiopathic minimal change disease. Methods. In a cohort of 9 adult patients with primary/idiopathic minimal change recruited consecutively at disease onset, we characterized (1) infiltrating immune cells in the kidneys using immunohistochemistry and (2) circulating lymphocyte subsets using flow cytometry. As an exploratory analysis, association of the numbers and percentages of both kidney-infiltrating immune cells and the circulating lymphocyte subsets with kidney outcomes including deterioration of kidney function and proteinuria, as well as time to complete clinical remission up to 48 months of follow-up, was investigated. Results. In the recruited patients with primary/idiopathic minimal change disease, we observed (a) a dominance of infiltrating T helper 17 cells and cytotoxic cells, comprising cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells, over Foxp3+ Treg cells in the renal interstitium; (b) an increase in the circulating total CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood; and (c) an association of some of these parameters with kidney function and proteinuria. Conclusions. In primary/idiopathic minimal change disease, a relative numerical dominance of effector over regulatory T cells can be observed in kidney tissue and peripheral blood. However, larger confirmatory studies are necessary

The social platform for businesses and investors

The market for startups and investors has become more crowded than ever with increased competition where everyone wants a slice of the cake. Talented young minds and great ideas are often overlooked, as there are simply no avenues to showcase their efforts or matchmaking opportunities. The pioneering of a social platform will seek to address these problems and create added values in the process. This digital space available to startups and investors will have limitless potential in creating business value with increased visibility, connectivity and amplification. The voice of startups will be heard above the roar of the crowd and investors are presented with channels to explore their investment options based on their risk appetites or preferences. The development of the platform will follow the SDLC process. Prior to the commencement of any developmental work, project planning is carried out to ensure the project follows a regulated structure to meet its’ deadline requirement. Additionally, critical reasoning is performed to identify the functionalities and requirements. The design of the user interface and the system architecture is prepared with precision toward the project’s goals. The choice of the developmental tools together with the implementation approach is also discussed comprehensively. An initiative to develop APIs could be largely attributed to the recent increase in use. This motivated an entirely new effort and additional resource into this project. Having APIs allows standardization of data as well as allowing other developers to tap onto this resource, creating mutual beneficial takings. All in all, the proposed platform represents a forward-looking opportunity, which seeks to assist the start-ups and investors’ market, offering a platform to maximise individual business value.Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF THE LAND SNAIL DYAKIA STRIATA AND THE PRESENCE AND FLASHING RATE OF ITS PHOTOGENIC ORGAN

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS

Roadmap to a Comprehensive Clinical Data Warehouse for Precision Medicine Applications in Oncology

Leading institutions throughout the country have established Precision Medicine programs to support personalized treatment of patients. A cornerstone for these programs is the establishment of enterprise-wide Clinical Data Warehouses. Working shoulder-to-shoulder, a team of physicians, systems biologists, engineers, and scientists at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have designed, developed, and implemented the Warehouse with information originating from data sources, including Electronic Medical Records, Clinical Trial Management Systems, Tumor Registries, Biospecimen Repositories, Radiology and Pathology archives, and Next Generation Sequencing services. Innovative solutions were implemented to detect and extract unstructured clinical information that was embedded in paper/text documents, including synoptic pathology reports. Supporting important precision medicine use cases, the growing Warehouse enables physicians to systematically mine and review the molecular, genomic, image-based, and correlated clinical information of patient tumors individually or as part of large cohorts to identify changes and patterns that may influence treatment decisions and potential outcomes

‘Aspirational Chinese’: achieving community prominence on Thursday Island, Northeast Australia

The experience of the Chinese diaspora in Australia has been the subject of much academic attention in the past three decades. The prevailing narrative of the Chinese presence, which dates from early White occupation of Australia, has highlighted discourses of marginalization. and exclusion for the Chinese pioneers who contributed so significantly to the economic development of the nation. Yet, despite their economic success, few Chinese gained regard and standing in mainstream colonial society and, of these, the best known resided in southern cities. Across northern Australia, far from the major population centers and seats of government, Chinese also became economically successful as agriculturists and merchants. Again, only a handful sought and obtained wider community acceptance, even local prominence. Our study draws on the diasporic experience of Chinese on Thursday Island in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to elucidate strategies employed by a minority to achieve social status within the general community. Through exploration of the socio-cultural forces influencing their choices - the dominant ethos of Thursday Island, multiethnicity and the consequences of anti-Chinese legislation - a unique portrait of the Chinese diasporic experience emerges, narrated through multiple sites of cultural collusion and contestation