A Cross Sectional Comparison of Flexibility and Balance in Children 10-14 Years of Age

To determine the effects of age on flexibility and balance in children ages 10-14. This study also determined the validity of the Y-balance test by comparing it to the standard back-saver sit and reach (BSSR) and the balance error scoring system test (BESS). Methods: 84 participants males (n=41) and females (n=43) ages 10-14 years old from a school in Chardon, Ohio, volunteered through a convenience sample to complete the study. Each subject had to complete three different tests in a randomized order during their regular physical education class. To compare the results of the three tests, gender and the age groups, a two-way anova, and a Pearson correlation were used. Results: The males scored significantly higher (p=0.037) than the females on the Y-balance test, while the females scored significantly higher (p=0.000) than the males on the BSSR and the BESS. There was no correlation between the Y-balance and either the BSSR or the BESS, r values less than 0.1. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the females scored significantly higher on the BSSR and the BESS, but the males scored significantly higher on the Y-balance. When comparing age groups, the Y-balance score significantly increased with age with the exception of the 13 year olds. For the BSSR and BESS, scores decreased in the categories of flexibility and balance in the older age groups. The validity of the Y-balance test as an accurate measure of flexibility and balance, compared to the BSSR and BESS respectively, was not demonstrated in this stud

COMPETITORS AND COLLABORATORS: EXPLORING INTER-UNIVERSITY EFFECTS IN THE ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

The interaction of proximate research universities is a multifaceted and increasingly relevant phenomenon in today's higher education landscape. The three essays herein add to science policy and innovation literature by exploring the challenges, opportunities, and expectations that arise when multiple universities operate in a region. The first essay identifies significant capacity, reputation, and proximity characteristics that increase the likelihood of having an accredited biomedical engineering program. The second essay argues that inter-university curricular collaboration positively affects research quality due to an increase in the number of patent citations tied to joint biomedical engineering programs. The third essay uses qualitative data to explain that the process of research orchestration involves more than simple transaction cost considerations and may lead to inter-university partnerships.Motivating the study of inter-university effects by using the relatively new academic field of biomedical engineering is appropriate due to the dynamic nature of the highly technical, interdisciplinary field, in which accumulated knowledge complements access to physical facilities. This research sheds light on the mechanisms that drive collaborative initiatives, foster competition, and influence the quality of higher education research. It contributes to the ongoing discourse on the evolving nature of higher education and its role in shaping the knowledge-driven societies of the future by offering valuable perspectives for policymakers, institutional leaders, scholars, and all those interested in the complex interactions of universities operating within an ecosystem.Doctor of Philosoph

Centering Work: Integration and Diffusion of Workforce Development within the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Network

As the U.S. economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, strategies that promote long-term transformation toward high-quality jobs will be critical. This includes workplace-improving interventions that enable employers to upgrade existing jobs, often while enhancing their own competitive position. This paper focuses on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a national network of federally funded centers that support small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. We document the range of workforce- and workplace-enhancing strategies that MEP centers have adopted since the network’s inception in the mid-1990s. While workforce development is unevenly implemented across today’s MEP network, leading centers within the network are devising transformative strategies that shape underlying business practices in ways that can improve the quality of front-line manufacturing jobs. The pandemic recovery, along with federal commitment to reenergize domestic supply chains, presents an opportunity to establish NIST-MEP as a national workforce-development leader while also strengthening localized institutional partnerships to center that effort on inclusive economic development and recovery

RORA and Posttraumatic Stress Trajectories: Main Effects and Interactions with Childhood Physical Abuse History.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal studies of posttraumatic stress (PTS) have documented environmental factors as predictors of trajectories of higher, versus lower, symptoms, among them experiences of childhood physical abuse. Although it is now well-accepted that genes and environments jointly shape the risk of PTS, no published studies have investigated genes, or gene-by-environment interactions (GxEs), as predictors of PTS trajectories. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We examined associations between variants of the retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA) gene and trajectory membership among a sample of predominantly non-Hispanic Black urban adults (N = 473). The RORA gene was selected based on its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the first PTSD genome wide association study. Additionally, we explored GxEs between RORA variants and childhood physical abuse history. RESULTS: We found that the minor allele of the RORA SNP rs893290 was a significant predictor of membership in a trajectory of consistently high PTS, relatively to a trajectory of consistently low PTS. Additionally, the GxE of rs893290 with childhood physical abuse was significant. Decomposition of the interaction showed that minor allele frequency was more strongly associated with membership in consistently high or decreasing PTS trajectories, relative to a consistently low PTS trajectory, among participants with higher levels of childhood physical abuse. CONCLUSION: The results of the study provide preliminary evidence that variation in the RORA gene is associated with membership in trajectories of higher PTS and that these associations are stronger among persons exposed to childhood physical abuse. Replication and analysis of functional data are needed to further our understanding of how RORA relates to PTS trajectories

The high-energy spectrum of the nearby planet-hosting inactive mid-M dwarf LHS 3844

To fully characterize the atmospheres, or lack thereof, of terrestrial exoplanets we must include the high-energy environments provided by their host stars. The nearby mid-M dwarf LHS 3844 hosts a terrestrial world which lacks a substantial atmosphere. We present a time series UV spectrum of LHS 3844 from 1131-3215A captured by HST/COS. We detect one flare in the FUV, which has an absolute energy of 8.96+/-0.79e28 erg and an equivalent duration of 355+/-31 s. We extract the flare and quiescent UV spectra separately. For each spectrum we estimate the Ly-alpha flux using correlations between UV line strengths. We use Swift-XRT to place an upper limit on the soft X-ray flux and construct a differential emission model (DEM) to estimate flux that is obscured by the interstellar medium. We compare the DEM flux estimates in the XUV to other methods that rely on scaling from the Ly-alpha, Si IV, and N V lines in the UV. The XUV, FUV, and NUV flux of LHS 3844 relative to its bolometric luminosity is log10(Lband/LBol) = -3.65, -4.16, and -4.56, respectively, for the quiescent state. These values agree with trends in high-energy flux as a function of stellar effective temperature found by the MUSCLES survey for a sample of early-M dwarfs. Many of the most spectroscopically accessible terrestrial exoplanets orbit inactive mid- to late-M dwarfs like LHS 3844. Measurements of M dwarf high-energy spectra are preferable for exoplanet characterization, but are not always possible. The spectrum of LHS 3844 is a useful proxy for the current radiation environment for these worlds.Comment: Published in AJ; HLSPs now availabl

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell secreted extracellular vesicles containing ceramide-1-phosphate promote pancreatic cancer stem cell motility

The high mortality rate associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is in part due to lack of effective therapy for this highly chemoresistant tumor. Cancer stem cells, a subset of cancer cells responsible for tumor initiation and metastasis, are not targeted by conventional cytotoxic agents, which renders the identification of factors that facilitate cancer stem cell activation useful in defining targetable mechanisms. We determined that bioactive sphingolipid induced migration of pancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSC) and signaling was specific to ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P). Furthermore, PDAC cells were identified as a rich source of C1P. Importantly, PDAC cells express the C1P converting enzyme ceramide kinase (CerK), secrete C1P-containing extracellular vesicles that mediate PCSC migration, and when co-injected with PCSC reduce animal survival in a PDAC peritoneal dissemination model. Our findings suggest that PDAC secrete C1P-containing extracellular vesicles as a means of recruiting PCSC to sustain tumor growth therefore making C1P release a mechanism that could facilitate tumor progression

Paper Waste In McKillop Library

The goals of our project were to determine the amount of the library’s paper waste. In order to do this we decided to focus on the total sheets of paper used, the recycling that occurs in the library, the use of recycled paper, and the discarding of books. The methods that were used were talking to library staff about the amount of paper used and the discarding of books, surveying the students who use the library about their recycling practices, and hanging educational flyers about the benefits of recycling. After researching the amount of paper waste in McKillop Library, the results we found were that overall more could be done to limit the environmental impact the library has due to the amount of paper waste. There are recommendations that can help reduce the amount of paper waste. In the short term, the library could rearrange the location of the trash barrels and the recycling bins. Having an overwhelming amount of trash barrels could inhibit the amount of paper recycling. Also the library could closely monitor the janitorial staff to make sure that the recycled products are being placed in the recycling bins and not in the dumpster with trash

Relation between falciparum malaria and bacteraemia in Kenyan children: a population-based, case-control study and a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Many investigators have suggested that malaria infection predisposes individuals to bacteraemia. We tested this hypothesis with mendelian randomisation studies of children with the malaria-protective phenotype of sickle-cell trait (HbAS). METHODS: This study was done in a defined area around Kilifi District Hospital, Kilifi, Kenya. We did a matched case-control study to identify risk factors for invasive bacterial disease, in which cases were children aged 3 months to 13 years who were admitted to hospital with bacteraemia between Sept 16, 1999, and July 31, 2002. We aimed to match two controls, by age, sex, location, and time of recruitment, for every case. We then did a longitudinal case-control study to assess the relation between HbAS and invasive bacterial disease as malaria incidence decreased. Cases were children aged 0-13 years who were admitted to hospital with bacteraemia between Jan 1, 1999, and Dec 31, 2007. Controls were born in the study area between Jan 1, 2006, and June 23, 2009. Finally, we modelled the annual incidence of bacteraemia against the community prevalence of malaria during 9 years with Poisson regression. RESULTS: In the matched case-control study, we recruited 292 cases-we recruited two controls for 236, and one for the remaining 56. Sickle-cell disease, HIV, leucocyte haemozoin pigment, and undernutrition were positively associated with bacteraemia and HbAS was strongly negatively associated with bacteraemia (odds ratio 0·36; 95% CI 0·20-0·65). In the longitudinal case-control study, we assessed data from 1454 cases and 10,749 controls. During the study period, the incidence of admission to hospital with malaria per 1000 child-years decreased from 28·5 to 3·45, with a reduction in protection afforded by HbAS against bacteraemia occurring in parallel (p=0·0008). The incidence of hospital admissions for bacteraemia per 1000 child-years also decreased from 2·59 to 1·45. The bacteraemia incidence rate ratio associated with malaria parasitaemia was 6·69 (95% CI 1·31-34·3) and, at a community parasite prevalence of 29% in 1999, 62% (8·2-91) of bacteraemia cases were attributable to malaria. INTERPRETATION: Malaria infection strongly predisposes individuals to bacteraemia and can account for more than half of all cases of bacteraemia in malaria-endemic areas. Interventions to control malaria will have a major additional benefit by reducing the burden of invasive bacterial disease. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust