The Mask of the \u27American Dream\u27

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology are heralded as some of the greatest insights into human nature in American literature. Both authors ask the reader to scrutinize the actions and emotions of the characters in their books to understand the true meaning behind their double-sided statements. From analyzing the characters of Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Lambert Hutchins, the reader can conclude that although they have the inordinate amount of wealth everybody in America works toward, they are dissatisfied, and use their money and aristocratic position to project the exterior of contentment. Fitzgerald and Masters believed ‘the American Dream’ never led to happiness; those who achieved materialistic success never attained fulfillment, but rather struggled to maintain the appearance of it

Modification of CT quality assurance phantom for PET/CT alignment and PET resolution

Radiotherapy treatment planning utilizing PET and CT is rapidly gaining acceptance in oncology. A limiting factor of the dual modality is the PET/CT alignment. A small error in PET/CT alignment may result in giving large doses of radiation to healthy tissues as a result of poor treatment planning. For this purpose, regular quality assurance testing of PET/CT must be performed. Separate QA procedures and phantoms have been developed for the two different modalities. In particular, many existing phantoms cannot be used for both modalities, which is a requirement for evaluating PET/CT alignment. Our goal is to evaluate several existing phantom designs to evaluate their utility for checking PET/CT alignment. The three phantoms investigated are a Gammex 464 phantom, a Triple-Line Source PET phantom, and a Hot Sphere PET phantom. The PET phantoms are unmodified the Gammex 464 phantom is modified to perform PET/CT alignment. The Gammex 464 phantom is typically used for routine quality assurance of CT scanners. Several CT parameters are determined with this phantom before and after modification. Then PET/CT alignment testing is performed using this modified CT phantom and the two other phantoms. Three methods have been used for analyzing the PET/CT images to measure the PET/CT alignment errors. The methods are the Manual method which calculates the alignment error from hand-drawn profiles, the Maximum-Pixel Value method which measures the error based on the pixel value of the objects in the PET/CT images, and the Curve-fitting method, which measures the alignment error by getting the best fit values for the object profiles. The Curve-fitting method also estimates the PET resolution from apparent size of objects in the phantoms. Our PET/CT alignment data and results suggest that the Maximum-Pixel Value method for the modified phantom with acrylic insert is a good choice for measuring the PET/CT alignment error, providing a reasonable balance between computational analysis effort and measurement precision

A smart approach for delivery of aripiprazole via oro-soft palatal mucosal route for improved therapeutic efficacy

Effective management of schizophrenia, acute mania, mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorders, and depression can be managed with aripiprazole moiety. In the present research work an attempt was made to minimize the dose related side effects thus improving the quality life of the patients. A novel biopolymer was isolated from the fruits of Trachyspermum ammi. Ten optimized nanosized aripiprazole loaded formulations were prepared in 1-5% concentration of biopolymer (FA1-FA5) and sodium CMC (FM1-FM5) by solvent casting technique. The formulated flexy films were evaluated for thickness, folding endurance, weight uniformity, surface pH, mucoadhesivity, In-vitro drug release studies, In-vivo pharmacodynamic study and stability studies. The isolated biopolymer showed inbuilt fimability and mucoadhesivity and consists of carbonyl, hydroxyl and thiocarbonyl functional groups. All formulations showed folding endurance from 153 to 170, mucoadhesion time in the range of 24-48hrs., and in-vitro drug release was performed using dynamic Franz Diffusion cell and analyzed using BIT-SOFTWARE. The experimental animals showed improved activity score on actophotometer. The formulated nanosized aripiprazole loaded bio-flexy films showed pharmacotherapeutic response. Conclusion can be drawn that optimized formulation showed effective Pharmacodynamic activity and can be used as for improving therapeutic efficacy of aripiprazole through this platform

Multi-component olivine for lithium-ion hybrid capacitor

A lithium-ion hybrid capacitor comprising of a battery type multi-component olivine (LiMn1/3Co1/3Ni1/3PO4) cathode and a capacitive type carbon negative electrode is reported. Olivine phosphate synthesized with chelating agent's polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) or triethanolamine (TEA) showed uniform carbon coating through in-situ process exhibiting a surface area 5.1 m2/g with porosity 0.02 cm2/g. The surface area for commercial carbon electrode was observed to be 1450 m2/g with high porosity 0.76 cm2/g. Galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling tests were conducted in the coin cells, olivine vs. Li, offering a cell voltage of 4.75 V vs. Li with a maximum specific capacitance of 125 F/g. In the case of olivine vs. carbon in a lithium-ion hybrid device delivered a high discharge capacitance of 86 F/g at a specific current of 0.12 A/g with a cycling retention of 53 F/g (38% loss) after 250 cycles. The obtained performance of PVP synthesized olivine material is manifested to uniform carbon coating and the trapped organic products that provide pathways for facile electrochemical reactions than their TEA counterparts

A brief intervention to improve patient satisfaction scores

"Background: Patient-centered care is the future of hospital services. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is the first of its kind, national, publicly available standardized survey. Although the overall score has been improving over the years, the aspect of physician-patient communication still lags far behind. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate a new method to improve communication. We assessed the changes in perception of patients if their provider initiated the post-discharge follow-up. ... Discussion: Improved communication outcomes require increased physician effort along with the efforts of the other staff and hospital resources. Patients' perception of physician communication can be enhanced by a post-discharge phone call from the provider."Vinod Nookala (1), Pratiksha Singh (1), Manbeer Singh Sarao (1), Sravanthi Ennala (2); 1. UPMC Pinnacle. Department of Internal Medicine ; 2. The Cleveland ClinicIncludes bibliographical reference

The effect of HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine on expression of cytokines/chemokines and synaptic genes: Implications in HIV neuroAIDS

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on May 26, 2017Dissertation advisor: Anil KumarVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 140-168)Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Pharmacy. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2017Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) enters the brain through blood brain barrier (BBB) early after the infection and leads to various neurological complications including HIV associated dementia (HAD). Introduction of combined Anti Retro Viral therapy (cART) has significantly reduced the incidence of HAD and increased the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Increase in the life span of people resulted in the development of less severe forms of cognitive dysfunctions, including asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI) and Mild neurocognitive disorder (MND). These neurological deficits affect approximately 50% of HIV-1 infected people. The neurotoxicity of HIV-1 has been attributed to the virus itself or the viral proteins like HIV-1 Tat shed after the infection via several mechanisms including production of cytokines/chemokines and decreased expression of neuroplasticity genes. The present study was based on the central hypothesis that HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine work synergistically in mediating pro-inflammatory cytokines and decreasing synaptic proteins. The level of cytokine expression mediated by HIV-1 Tat is determined. Furthermore, we examined the cellular mechanisms responsible for HIV-1 Tat mediated cytokine production, and the role of synaptic proteins in HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine induced neurocognitive impairment. In the first chapter, we investigated the effect of HIV-1 Tat on pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in SVGA astrocytes. We measured levels of the IL-6, IL-8 and CCL5 in SVGA astrocytes after exposure with HIV-1 Tat. The results showed that HIV-1 Tat induced expression of IL-6, IL-8 and CCL5 in a time-dependent manner. These results were also confirmed by detecting their intracellular expression in SVGA astrocytes using confocal microscopy. Next, we sought to explore the mechanism(s) by which HIV-1 Tat induces the cytokine response. The involvement of PI3K/Akt, p38 MAPK, JNK MAPK pathways and various transcription factors, including NF-κB and AP-1 were determined by using selective inhibitors and siRNAs. In the second chapter, we investigated combined the effect of HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine on expression of IL-6 and its underlying signaling mechanism(s). In the third chapter, the effect of HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine on neurocognition was determined in HIV-1 Tat transgenic mice. Y maze and Morris water maze were employed to determine neurocognition. We also determined the effect of Tat and methamphetamine on expression of synaptic proteins in various brain regions. Furthermore, the role of HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine on neurotrophic factors and CaMKII were determined by western blot. In conclusion, we showed that HIV-1 viral protein Tat and methamphetamine were able to induce cytokine expression in astrocytes. The underlying mechanism(s) provides potential therapeutic target for neuroAIDS.General introduction -- General materials and methods -- Role of HIV-1 TAT in the expression of various pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and their underlying mechanism(s) -- HIV-1 Tat and methamphetamine mediated expression of IL-6 involves NF-Kb and PI3K/Akt pathways -- Effect of HIV-1 Tat and Meth on cognition and expression of various synaptic genes -- Summary and future direction

HLA-II-Dependent Neuroimmune Changes in Group A Streptococcal Necrotizing Fasciitis

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus, GAS) bacteria cause a spectrum of human diseases ranging from self-limiting pharyngitis and mild, uncomplicated skin infections (impetigo, erysipelas, and cellulitis) to highly morbid and rapidly invasive, life-threatening infections such as streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis (NF). HLA class II allelic polymorphisms are linked with differential outcomes and severity of GAS infections. The dysregulated immune response and peripheral cytokine storm elicited due to invasive GAS infections increase the risk for toxic shock and multiple organ failure in genetically susceptible individuals. We hypothesized that, while the host immune mediators regulate the immune responses against peripheral GAS infections, these interactions may simultaneously trigger neuropathology and, in some cases, induce persistent alterations in the glial phenotypes. Here, we studied the consequences of peripheral GAS skin infection on the brain in an HLA-II transgenic mouse model of GAS NF with and without treatment with an antibiotic, clindamycin (CLN). Mice expressing the human HLA-II DR3 (DR3) or the HLA-II DR4 (DR4) allele were divided into three groups: (i) uninfected controls, (ii) subcutaneously infected with a clinical GAS strain isolated from a patient with GAS NF, and (iii) GAS-infected with CLN treatment (10 mg/kg/5 days, intraperitoneal). The groups were monitored for 15 days post-infection. Skin GAS burden and lesion area, splenic and hippocampal mRNA levels of inflammatory markers, and immunohistochemical changes in hippocampal GFAP and Iba-1 immunoreactivity were assessed. Skin GAS burden and hippocampal mRNA levels of the inflammatory markers S100A8/A9, IL-1β, IL-33, inflammasome-related caspase-1 (Casp1), and NLRP6 were elevated in infected DR3 but not DR4 mice. The levels of these markers were significantly reduced following CLN treatment in DR3 mice. Although GAS was not detectable in the brain, astrocyte (GFAP) and microglia (Iba-1) activation were evident from increased GFAP and Iba-1 mRNA levels in DR3 and DR4 mice. However, CLN treatment significantly reduced GFAP mRNA levels in DR3 mice, not DR4 mice. Our data suggest a skin–brain axis during GAS NF, demonstrating that peripherally induced pathological conditions regulate neuroimmune changes and gliotic events in the brai

Many-task computing on many-core architectures

Many-Task Computing (MTC) is a common scenario for multiple parallel systems, such as cluster, grids, cloud and supercomputers, but it is not so popular in shared memory parallel processors. In this sense and given the spectacular growth in performance and in number of cores integrated in many-core architectures, the study of MTC on such architectures is becoming more and more relevant. In this paper, authors present what are those programming mechanisms to take advantages of such massively parallel features for the particular target of MTC. Also, the hardware features of the two dominant many-core platforms (NVIDIA's GPUs and Intel Xeon Phi) are also analyzed for our specific framework. Given the important differences in terms of hardware and software in our two many-core platforms, we have considered different strategies based on CUDA (for GPUs) and OpenMP (for Intel Xeon Phi). We carried out several test cases based on an appropriate and widely studied problem for benchmarking as matrix multiplication. Essentially, this study consisted of comparing the time consumed for computing in parallel several tasks one by one (the whole computational resources are used just to compute one task at a time) with the time consumed for computing in parallel the same set of tasks simultaneously (the whole computational resources are used for computing the set of tasks at very same time). Finally, we compared both software-hardware scenarios to identify the most relevant computer features in each of our many-core architectures