TA 10: Theater Appreciation Course Redesign

Poster summarizing course redesign activities for TA 10: Theater Appreciation.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/davinci_itcr2014/1011/thumbnail.jp

Genotoxic effects of NSAIDs and hydrocortisone in bulk and nano forms in lymphocytes from patients with haematological cancers

Chronic inflammation is intimately linked with cancer development and progression and therefore reducing or eliminating inflammation represents a logical treatment and prevention strategy. Studies have shown that anti-inflammatory agents have anti-tumour effects in cancers, with reduced metastases and mortality. Current use of anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment and prevention of cancer is limited by their toxicity and side effects. The emerging field of nanotechnology allows the fundamental properties of a drug to be altered, creating a product with improved reactivity and bioavailability, leading to more targeted treatments and reduced dosage. In the present study, the genotoxic effects of three commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs; aspirin, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone, in their bulk and nano forms were evaluated on peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy donors using the comet assay and the micronucleus assay. In order to determine any anti-cancer effects, these agents were also tested in peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with haematological cancers. The glucocorticoid hydrocortisone was also evaluated for anti-oxidant capacity. Our results demonstrate that the nano versions of each drug produced a different response than the bulk counterpart, indicating that a reduction in particle size had an impact on the reactivity of the drug. Our results also indicate that the nano versions of each drug were less genotoxic than the bulk formulation, further emphasising the potential of nanoparticles as an improvement to current treatment options. We also found an anti-oxidant effect with hydrocortisone, with a more profound effect seen with the nano formulation

Genotoxic effects of NSAIDs and hydrocortisone on bulk and nano forms in lymphocytes from patients with haematological cancers

Chronic inflammation is intimately linked with cancer development and progression and therefore reducing or eliminating inflammation represents a logical treatment and prevention strategy. Studies have shown that anti-inflammatory agents have anti-tumour effects in cancers, with reduced metastases and mortality. Current use of anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment and prevention of cancer is limited by their toxicity and side effects. The emerging field of nanotechnology allows the fundamental properties of a drug to be altered, creating a product with improved reactivity and bioavailability, leading to more targeted treatments and reduced dosage. In the present study, the genotoxic effects of three commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs; aspirin, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone, in their bulk and nano forms were evaluated on peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy donors using the comet assay and the micronucleus assay. In order to determine any anti-cancer effects, these agents were also tested in peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with haematological cancers. The glucocorticoid hydrocortisone was also evaluated for anti-oxidant capacity. Our results demonstrate that the nano versions of each drug produced a different response than the bulk counterpart, indicating that a reduction in particle size had an impact on the reactivity of the drug. Our results also indicate that the nano versions of each drug were less genotoxic than the bulk formulation, further emphasising the potential of nanoparticles as an improvement to current treatment options. We also found an anti-oxidant effect with hydrocortisone, with a more profound effect seen with the nano formulation

Book Review: The Warren Court: Constitutional Decision as an Intrument of Reform

Although Americans usually associate the significant events of their political history with the contemporaneous presidential administration, since the appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court the judiciary has wrought more significant changes in our society than have the three administrations who have served during the same period. In the fifteen years since Justice Warren\u27s appointment the Supreme Court has profoundly altered many constitutional doctrines, including those affecting race relations, criminal procedure, and election operations. The controversy surrounding the court\u27s decisions has been sharp

Where the Law Ends: The Social Control of Corporate Behavior (By Christopher D. Stone)

There has been a growing concern recently that many of society\u27s ills are a result of a lack of social responsibility on the part of America\u27s business corporations. The corporation is portrayed as acting without regard for the public welfare or the morality of its decision. Pollution, lack of product safety, bribery, political intrigue, financial frauds, energy abuses and even inflation are among the charges leveled against corporations. If the corporation is made more socially responsible, it is argued, its impact on the quality of life will be positive and beneficial. The advocates of corporate responsibility have proposed many solutions to effect this result. As corporate abuses seemingly increase in number and magnitude, the clamor for corporate responsibility has intensified, while the debate over which solution provides the best remedy continues. In the midst of this controversy, Christopher Stone\u27s Where the Law Ends is an innovative, controversial and far-reaching alternative proposal for attempting to solve the question of how corporations can be made a more responsible force in our society

Perma Life Eight Years After: Is the Doctrine of In Pari Delicto Still a Potential Impediment to Private Antitrust Plaintiffs?

The private antitrust action is authorized by section 4 of the Clayton Act.\u27 The potential in these actions for recovery of treble damages and attorney\u27s fees not only allows private persons to be compensated for their injuries but acts as a financial incentive for such enforcement.\u27 Private enforcement was designed to obviate the necessity for expanded federal enforcement; 3 governmental (public) enforcement, which is sometimes selective and concerned with more flagrant violations, is thus supplemented by the private suit, which discourages antitrust violations by heightening the possibility that violators will be exposed and subjected to the deterrent effect of large damage awards.4 Private antitrust actions are therefore beneficial to society through their impact on those who might otherwise engage in anti-competitive business conduct. This impact is a necessary complement to public enforcement. This article will concern itself with the question of whether a private plaintiff who has participated in the alleged antitrust violation or violations upon which suit has been brought, should be barred from seeking a remedy for these violations because of such participation. Specifically, the availability of the defense of in pari delicto to defendants in private antitrust actions will be discussed through a review of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Perma Life Mufflers, Inc. v. International Parts Corp. which limited the use of in pari delicto, and several United States Court of Appeals decisions applying the Supreme Court\u27s standard for the use of this defense

A decoupled, convergent and fully linear algorithm for the Landau--Lifshitz--Gilbert equation with magnetoelastic effects

We consider the coupled system of the Landau--Lifshitz--Gilbert equation and the conservation of linear momentum law to describe magnetic processes in ferromagnetic materials including magnetoelastic effects in the small-strain regime. For this nonlinear system of time-dependent partial differential equations, we present a decoupled integrator based on first-order finite elements in space and an implicit one-step method in time. We prove unconditional convergence of the sequence of discrete approximations towards a weak solution of the system as the mesh size and the time-step size go to zero. Compared to previous numerical works on this problem, for our method, we prove a discrete energy law that mimics that of the continuous problem and, passing to the limit, yields an energy inequality satisfied by weak solutions. Moreover, our method does not employ a nodal projection to impose the unit length constraint on the discrete magnetisation, so that the stability of the method does not require weakly acute meshes. Furthermore, our integrator and its analysis hold for a more general setting, including body forces and traction, as well as a more general representation of the magnetostrain. Numerical experiments underpin the theory and showcase the applicability of the scheme for the simulation of the dynamical processes involving magnetoelastic materials at submicrometer length scales.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figure

The role of biofilms in recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection and the interaction of C. difficile in multispecies biofilms

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of infective antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and is responsible for significant patient morbidity and mortality. Despite appropriate antimicrobial therapy, CDI recurs in approximately 20-30 % of cases, suggesting that C. difficile can occupy a protective niche whereby antimicrobial therapy is ineffective. Biofilms represent such a potential niche. We sought to determine the role of biofilms in recurrent CDI (rCDI) and how the sessile community can affect C. difficile biofilm formation. A triple stage chemostat model of the human colon was used to predict the efficacy of a simulated faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and two different dosing regimens of a spore consortium, SER-109, to prevent rCDI and to define a role for biofilms in rCDI. Planktonic and biofilm communities were individually analysed using culture-based techniques and bacterial taxonomic sequencing. Bile acid levels were monitored to investigate potential mechanisms of efficacy. A biofilm batch culture assay was used to investigate the influence of biofilm-associated microbiota on C. difficile biofilm formation. Results show that FMT and a triple dose of SER-109 successfully prevented rCDI, potentially due to reducing the levels of primary bile acids through conversion to secondary bile acids. Despite the ability of microbiome therapies to prevent rCDI, they failed to eradicate C. difficile from the biofilm, suggesting a risk of future CDI. The biofilm-associated C. difficile was able to seed the planktonic phase, resulting in C. difficile germination and proliferation, which proved to be sufficient to induce CDI. Biofilm batch culture experiments indicate that commensal biofilm populations can reduce or increase C. difficile biofilm formation and growth, which required the presence of viable cells. We conclude that biofilms provide a protective niche for C. difficile, which facilitates CDI recurrence, and that patients undergoing microbiome-based therapies potentially remain at risk of CDI with subsequent antibiotic use

Sharpening Iron: Developing a Mentoring Program to Train New Lay Pastors

Congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) look to their pastor for spiritual, organizational, and missional leadership, but many congregations in villages and rural areas are having difficulty recruiting, affording, and retaining ordained clergy to fill pastoral leadership roles. The Presbytery of Northwest Coast located in parts of Washington and Alaska seeks to fill the need for pastoral leadership in these congregations by training and supporting lay pastors. The purpose of this doctoral project is to develop a systematic mentoring network for the training of new lay pastors using clergy as mentors. This project will establish the vision and core values of the ministry, create awareness of the value of mentoring for this purpose, design a sustainable and reproducible framework for ministry, and implement a coaching approach to training clergy as mentors. The mentoring program will be developed, implemented, and evaluated in concert with presbytery leadership and staff. This project defines mentoring as an empowering relationship between two people where one person gives God-given resources to another at a time crucial for personal and professional development. Clergy will invest their time, talent, and wisdom into the mentees as they work to fulfill their individual learning plans to meet the requirements to be commissioned as lay pastors. Clergy will receive training and coaching to develop as mentors. The project created a sustainable mentoring ministry that continues to train lay pastors through mentoring. By the conclusion of the project implementation period, two individuals had been commissioned as lay pastors and are serving congregations within the presbytery. The continued implementation and refinement of this ministry will serve as a model for the denomination as it seeks to find qualified leaders for each congregation