The Beneficial Amalgamation of Technology and Neurology

In 1958, the first successful pacemaker (to regulate the rhythmic beating of the heart) was devised. Now researchers and technicians have devised a technology that can record neural signals, thereby connecting brain signals with medical technology. This essay describes the successes and future potential of the NeuroPace device for improving the quality of life for people who are subject to epileptic seizures

Determinations of Proton Affinities of Methylated Cysteine and Serine Homologs

Non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) are of interest to study for their potential to be incorporated into peptides and proteins, as well as for understanding their structure-energetics relationships. Studying these amino acids’ thermochemical properties such as their acidity and basicity allow for elucidation of the structure and bonding characteristics of these molecules. By examining these molecules in the gas-phase in mass spectrometers, we are able to determine their intrinsic thermodynamic properties without solvation effects. These thermochemical properties, in part, determine the structure, function and bonding of the molecules. This study focused on determining the proton affinities of methylated cysteine and serine homologs by using Cook’s extended kinetic method with orthogonal distance regression analysis in a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The NPAAs selected have been shown to mis-incorporate into small peptides, making it of interest to determine how these changes affect the structures and energetics of the peptide.1The NPAAs studied included α-methylcysteine, L-penicillamine (gem-dimethyl cysteine), α-methylserine, and 3-methylthrenonine (gem-dimethyl serine), and their proton affinities were determined to be 923.7 ±11 kJ/mol, 925 ±15 kJ/mol, 932 ±20 kJ/mol and 924 ±15 kJ/mol, respectively. These experimental proton affinities are in excellent agreement with Boltmann-weighted computational proton affinities determined for these molecules. All of the methylated homologs had larger proton affinities than their respective protein amino acid, serine and cysteine, which have proton affinities of with proton affinities of 903 kJ/mol and 912 kJ/mol respectively.

Screening for Park Access during a Primary Care Social Determinants Screen.

While there is evidence that access to nature and parks benefits pediatric health, it is unclear how low-income families living in an urban center acknowledge or prioritize access to parks.MethodsWe conducted a study about access to parks by pediatric patients in a health system serving low-income families. Adult caregivers of pediatric patients completed a survey to identify and prioritize unmet social and economic needs, including access to parks. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore associations between lack of access to parks and sociodemographic variables. We also explored the extent to which access to parks competed with other needs.ResultsThe survey was completed by 890 caregivers; 151 (17%) identified "access to green spaces/parks/playgrounds" as an unmet need, compared to 397 (45%) who endorsed "running out of food before you had money or food stamps to buy more". Being at or below the poverty line doubled the odds ( Odds ratio 1.96, 95% CI 1.16-3.31) of lacking access to a park (reference group: above the poverty line), and lacking a high school degree nearly doubled the odds. Thirty-three of the 151 (22%) caregivers who identified access to parks as an unmet need prioritized it as one of three top unmet needs. Families who faced competing needs of housing, food, and employment insecurity were less likely to prioritize park access (p < 0.001).ConclusionClinical interventions to increase park access would benefit from an understanding of the social and economic adversity faced by patients

Visual Analytics as an Enabler for Manufacturing Process Decision-making

AbstractThe goal of an optimal manufacturing process is to maximize product performance while minimizing cost, time, and waste. A critical component of this optimization is the appropriate selection of process parameters. While central physical concepts often serve as a starting point, specific parameter selection is frequently done manually, based on operator skill, experience, and intuition. As a result, process optimization is often iterative, non-repeatable, and lacking in traceability. Further, there is no fundamental insight gained into the relationship between process parameter selection and critical process outputs. This paper explores the use of visual analytics as an enabler for manufacturing process decision making. An emerging science, visual analytics couples analytical reasoning with the substantial capability of the human brain to rapidly internalize and understand data that is presented visually. Through the use of interactive interfaces, visual analytics provides a mechanism through which the operator, engineer, and decision-maker can cooperate in real-time with both simulation, experimental, and operational data, facilitating trade studies, what-if analysis, and providing crucial insight into correlations and relationships that drive process optimization. As an exemplar, the concept of visual analytics is applied to the simulation of a notional high pressure die casting process, with the goal of gaining insight into those parameters that contribute to high scrap rates, particularly air entrapment

Plasticity, Learning and Cognition

As is becoming increasingly clear, spiders are not entirely instinct driven and inflexible in their behaviour. Here we review evidence for behavioural plasticity, learning and other cognitive processes such as attentional priming and memory. We first examine these attributes in several natural contexts: predation, interactions with conspecifics and potential predators, and spatial navigation. Next we examine two somewhat more artificial experimental approaches, heat aversion and rearing in enriched versus impoverished environments. We briefly describe the neurobiological underpinnings of these behaviours. Finally, we point to areas where our knowledge gaps are greatest, and we offer advice for researchers beginning their own studies of spider learning

Improving electoral integrity with information and communications technology

Irregularities plague elections in developing democracies. The international community spends hundreds of millions of dollars on election observation, with little robust evidence that it consistently improves electoral integrity. We conducted a randomized control trial to measure the effect of an intervention to detect and deter electoral irregularities employing a nation-wide sample of polling stations in Uganda using scalable information and communications technology (ICT). In treatment stations, researchers delivered letters to polling officials stating that tallies would be photographed using smartphones and compared against official results. Compared to stations with no letters, the letters increased the frequency of posted tallies by polling center managers in compliance with the law; decreased the number of sequential digits found on tallies – a fraud indicator; and decreased the vote share for the incumbent president in some specifications. Our results demonstrate that a cost-effective citizen and ICT intervention can improve electoral integrity in emerging democracie

Asynchronous and Rhetorical: Appointment Forms and Their Effect on Writer-Consultant Exchanges

Especially in the wake of the recent pandemic, asynchronous consulting has become increasingly central to writing center work. Yet writing center scholarship has little attended to the significant impact writer input can have on asynchronous writer-consultant exchanges. Drawing on asynchronous consultation data collected before and after our 2019 redesign of our writing center’s asynchronous system, this comparative study examines the specific effect of the writer appointment form on the nature of both writers’ requests for feedback (RFFs) and consultants’ resulting comments. Our findings suggest that differently designed appointments forms can scaffold significantly different kinds of asynchronous writer-consultant exchanges, especially visible in the different emphases writers and consultants put on issues of correctness, clarity, organization, and the writer’s rhetorical situation. We argue that, particularly in the case of asynchronous consulting—which can easily devolve to a “fix-it” model of consulting—it is important for writing center administrators to design asynchronous platforms that encourage both writers and consultants to more explicitly consider how the specific rhetorical features of a writing task can shape revising goals

MTHFD1 controls DNA methylation in Arabidopsis.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that has important functions in transcriptional silencing and is associated with repressive histone methylation (H3K9me). To further investigate silencing mechanisms, we screened a mutagenized Arabidopsis thaliana population for expression of SDCpro-GFP, redundantly controlled by DNA methyltransferases DRM2 and CMT3. Here, we identify the hypomorphic mutant mthfd1-1, carrying a mutation (R175Q) in the cytoplasmic bifunctional methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase (MTHFD1). Decreased levels of oxidized tetrahydrofolates in mthfd1-1 and lethality of loss-of-function demonstrate the essential enzymatic role of MTHFD1 in Arabidopsis. Accumulation of homocysteine and S-adenosylhomocysteine, genome-wide DNA hypomethylation, loss of H3K9me and transposon derepression indicate that S-adenosylmethionine-dependent transmethylation is inhibited in mthfd1-1. Comparative analysis of DNA methylation revealed that the CMT3 and CMT2 pathways involving positive feedback with H3K9me are mostly affected. Our work highlights the sensitivity of epigenetic networks to one-carbon metabolism due to their common S-adenosylmethionine-dependent transmethylation and has implications for human MTHFD1-associated diseases

Bio-Shield medical waste processing unit: Final report

Medical waste processors are large pieces of machinery which sterilize medical waste so that it may then be disposed of as non-hazardous waste. The primary components include grinders, conveyors, autoclave, steam generation, housing and frame. Recently, tests on medical waste have proven that static (non-rotating) autoclaves do not effectively disinfect hazardous materials. Although alternatives to the autoclave method of sterilizing waste exist, the autoclave has shown to be the most effective and environmentally friendly method. The solution to the unreliable static autoclave is a rotating autoclave, which has been developed by Bio-Shield, an up and coming company which hopes to redefine the medical waste sterilization market. Though they once operated a large format mobile medical waste grinding system, this quickly proved to not be financially viable. Responding to an industry need, the new goal of Bio-Shield is to place a fractional size system inside hospitals. By decreasing the scale of these processors to one-third of the developed load input, units will be able to be rented by hospitals and transported from one place to another to allow for extremely convenient methods of converting biomedical hazard into dumpster waste. Bio-Shield has agreed to pay for the final design of this unit and, once completed, it will serve to revolutionize the industry and create a brand new business in Oklahoma. The senior design team's goal was to evaluate the concept developed by Bio-Shield and identify strengths and weakness to implement as many improvements as possible