Measuring electronic communication defects and their impact at 3M

Although email is frequently often thought of as a quick and efficient form of communication, often little thought is given to how email affects the employee. This paper has made steps towards gaining a better understanding of email communication and how it can be used more effectively in an organisation. The results obtained from this study can also provide the basis for communication usage policies and training, which could then reduce wasted time and improve employee productivity. It has also shown both the value of obtaining metrics and the difficulties involved. The paper highlights some of the problems, and some of the issues that need to be addressed with email communication within a large organisation

Immuno-fluorescent Labeling of Microtubules and Centrosomal Proteins in Ex Vivo Intestinal Tissue and 3D In Vitro Intestinal Organoids.

The advent of 3D in vitro organoids that mimic the in vivo tissue architecture and morphogenesis has greatly advanced the ability to study key biological questions in cell and developmental biology. In addition, organoids together with recent technical advances in gene editing and viral gene delivery promises to advance medical research and development of new drugs for treatment of diseases. Organoids grown in vitro in basement matrix provide powerful model systems for studying the behavior and function of various proteins and are well suited for live-imaging of fluorescent-tagged proteins. However, establishing the expression and localization of the endogenous proteins in ex vivo tissue and in in vitro organoids is important to verify the behavior of the tagged proteins. To this end we have developed and modified tissue isolation, fixation, and immuno-labeling protocols for localization of microtubules, centrosomal, and associated proteins in ex vivo intestinal tissue and in in vitro intestinal organoids. The aim was for the fixative to preserve the 3D architecture of the organoids/tissue while also preserving antibody antigenicity and enabling good penetration and clearance of fixative and antibodies. Exposure to cold depolymerizes all but stable microtubules and this was a key factor when modifying the various protocols. We found that increasing the ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) concentration from 3 mM to 30 mM gave efficient detachment of villi and crypts in the small intestine while 3 mM EDTA was sufficient for colonic crypts. The developed formaldehyde/methanol fixation protocol gave very good structural preservation while also preserving antigenicity for effective labeling of microtubules, actin, and the end-binding (EB) proteins. It also worked for the centrosomal protein ninein although the methanol protocol worked more consistently. We further established that fixation and immuno-labeling of microtubules and associated proteins could be achieved with organoids isolated from or remaining within the basement matrix

Oncogenic Ras deregulates cell-substrate interactions during mitotic rounding and respreading to alter cell division orientation

Oncogenic Ras has been shown to change the way cancer cells divide by increasing the forces generated during mitotic rounding. In this way, RasV12 enables cancer cells to divide across a wider range of mechanical environments than normal cells. Here, we identify a further role for oncogenic Ras-ERK signaling in division by showing that RasV12 expression alters the shape, division orientation, and respreading dynamics of cells as they exit mitosis. Many of these effects appear to result from the impact of RasV12 signaling on actomyosin contractility, because RasV12 induces the severing of retraction fibers that normally guide spindle positioning and provide a memory of the interphase cell shape. In support of this idea, the RasV12 phenotype is reversed by inhibition of actomyosin contractility and can be mimicked by the loss of cell-substrate adhesion during mitosis. Finally, we show that RasV12 activation also perturbs division orientation in cells cultured in 2D epithelial monolayers and 3D spheroids. Thus, the induction of oncogenic Ras-ERK signaling leads to rapid changes in division orientation that, along with the effects of RasV12 on cell growth and cell-cycle progression, are likely to disrupt epithelial tissue organization and contribute to cancer dissemination

Prospectus, January 30, 1985

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1985/1001/thumbnail.jp

Multi-hazard dependencies can increase or decrease risk

In risk analysis, it is recognized that hazards can often combine to worsen their joint impact, but impact data for a rail network show that hazards can also tend to be mutually exclusive at seasonal timescales. Ignoring this overestimates worst-case risk, so we therefore champion a broader view of risk from compound hazard

Coarse-grained model of entropic allostery

Many signaling functions in molecular biology require proteins to bind to substrates such as DNA in response to environmental signals such as the simultaneous binding to a small molecule. Examples are repressor proteins which may transmit information via a conformational change in response to the ligand binding. An alternative entropic mechanism of "allostery" suggests that the inducer ligand changes the intramolecular vibrational entropy, not just the mean static structure. We present a quantitative, coarse-grained model of entropic allostery, which suggests design rules for internal cohesive potentials in proteins employing this effect. It also addresses the issue of how the signal information to bind or unbind is transmitted through the protein. The model may be applicable to a wide range of repressors and also to signaling in trans-membrane proteins

Prospectus, October 10, 1984

SO YOU AND THE BULLY ON THE BLOCK ARE GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD?\u27; PC Digest; Use your vote to make needed changes; First semester headaches; Auntie Miranda-Yes? or No?; Dear Reader; PC Happenings; Lifelong Learners to meet; Parkalnd schedules special registration; Workshop focuses on time management; Animal Health Technicians conference set; Health issues series continues; Emotional problems reason for help, not condemnation; Consumer Health Care Hotline; Notes of interest Prospectus read far and wide; Pictures worth more than a thousand words and dollars; Parkland instructor to teach GM class; Staff profile-Jim Scott-Entertainment writer; Advice from the duodenum-by Auntie Miranda; Wallace and Gray assets to both Parkland and \u27Taken in Marriage\u27; Music Poll; Explore the workings of the brain; Who\u27s top in pop?; Chick\u27s newest more than child\u27s play; Don\u27t miss a night of hilarity; Creative Corner...Especially for you!!; \u27The Foreigner\u27; The alarm clock-Monday morning blues; Natural selection; Bittersweet Memory; Pathways; Beautiful Stranger; Too Late; Love in the winter woods; \u27Doom Story\u27 the nightmare begins; Eternity; Green Eyes; Our day; Rejoice the Poet; Life Choices; Our place; Classifieds; Trust and acceptance provide supportive atmosphere; Change brings creation of destiny; Did You Know...; Kirby leads Cobra harriers to 7th; Lady Cobras win three, improve record to 18-5; A Tale of Three Freshmen; IM Volleyball; IM Football; Kirby says \u27Running is good for heart\u27; Schriefer takes pride in Parkland X-Country; Stewart places 3rd to lead Lady Cobras; Mullen twins guests on Cobra Raphttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1984/1009/thumbnail.jp

The 'dirty dozen' of freshwater science: detecting then reconciling hydrological data biases and errors

Sound water policy and management rests on sound hydrometeorological and ecological data. Conversely, unrepresentative, poorly collected, or erroneously archived data introduce uncertainty regarding the magnitude, rate, and direction of environmental change, in addition to undermining confidence in decision-making processes. Unfortunately, data biases and errors can enter the information flow at various stages, starting with site selection, instrumentation, sampling/measurement procedures, postprocessing and ending with archiving systems. Techniques such as visual inspection of raw data, graphical representation, and comparison between sites, outlier, and trend detection, and referral to metadata can all help uncover spurious data. Tell-tale signs of ambiguous and/or anomalous data are highlighted using 12 carefully chosen cases drawn mainly from hydrology (‘the dirty dozen’). These include evidence of changes in site or local conditions (due to land management, river regulation, or urbanization); modifications to instrumentation or inconsistent observer behavior; mismatched or misrepresentative sampling in space and time; treatment of missing values, postprocessing and data storage errors. Also for raising awareness of pitfalls, recommendations are provided for uncovering lapses in data quality after the information has been gathered. It is noted that error detection and attribution are more problematic for very large data sets, where observation networks are automated, or when various information sources have been combined. In these cases, more holistic indicators of data integrity are needed that reflect the overall information life-cycle and application(s) of the hydrological data

Characterization of disease course and remission in early seropositive rheumatoid arthritis: results from the TACERA longitudinal cohort study

Background: To characterise disease course and remission in a longitudinal observational study of newly diagnosed, initially treatment-naïve patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Patients with early untreated seropositive RA were recruited from 28 UK centres. Multiple clinical and laboratory measures were collected every 3 months for up to 18 months. Disease activity was measured using the 28-joint Disease Activity Score with C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) and Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI). Logistic regression models examined clinical predictors of 6-month remission and latent class mixed models characterised disease course. Results: We enrolled 275 patients of whom 267 met full eligibility and provided baseline data. According to SDAI definition, 24.3% attained 6-month remission. Lower baseline Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and SDAI predicted 6-month remission (p = 0.013 and 0.011). Alcohol intake and baseline prescribing of methotrexate with a second disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD; vs monotherapy without glucocorticoids) were also predictive. Three distinct SDAI trajectory subpopulations emerged; corresponding to an inadequate responder group (6.5%), and higher and lower baseline activity responder groups (22.4% and 71.1%). Baseline HAQ and Short Form-36 Health Survey – Mental Component Score (SF-36 MCS) distinguished these groups. In addition, a number of baseline clinical predictors correlated with disease activity severity within subpopulations. Beneficial effects of alcohol intake were found across subpopulations. Conclusion: Three distinct disease trajectory subpopulations were identified. Differential effects of functional and mental well-being, alcohol consumption, and baseline RA medication prescribing on disease activity severity were found across subpopulations. Heterogeneity across trajectories cannot be fully explained by baseline clinical predictors. We hypothesise that biological markers collected early in disease course (within 6 months) may help patient management and better targeting of existing and novel therapies

Communicating the deadly consequences of global warming for human heat stress

In December 2015 the international community pledged to limit global warming to below 2°C above preindustrial (PI) to prevent dangerous climate change. However, to what extent, and for whom, is danger avoided if this ambitious target is realised? We address these questions by scrutinizing heat stress, because the frequency of extremely hot weather is expected to continue to rise in the approach to the 2°C limit. We use analogues and the extreme South Asian heat of 2015 as a focussing event to help interpret the increasing frequency of deadly heat under specified amounts of global warming. Using a large ensemble of climate models, our results confirm that global mean air temperature is non-linearly related to heat stress, meaning that the same future warming as realised to date could trigger larger increases in societal impacts than historically experienced. This non-linearity is higher for heat stress metrics that integrate the effect of rising humidity. We show that even in a climate held to 2°C above PI, Karachi (Pakistan) and Kolkata (India) could expect conditions equivalent to their deadly 2015 heatwaves every year. With only 1.5°C of global warming, twice as many megacities (such as Lagos, Nigeria and Shanghai, China) could become heat-stressed, exposing more than 350 million more people to deadly heat by 2050 under a mid-range population growth scenario. The results underscore that even if the Paris targets are realised, there could still be a significant adaptation imperative for vulnerable urban populations