An Investigation of the Mechano-Sensory System on the Body of Three Members of the North American Cyprinid Genus Notropis (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy will be used to investigate the distribution of superficial neuromasts on the surface of the body in three species of the North American minnow genus Notropis. This will include two species with elevated lateral line scales (N. buchanani and N. volucellus) and one with non-elevated lateral line scales (N. sabinae). Previous research investigations of the mechano-sensory system in fishes have shown that lateral line scales (those bearing the lateral line canal) support higher numbers of superficial neuromasts than non-lateral line canal bearing scales. I hypothesize that the elevated lateral line scales of N. buchanani and N. volucellus may provide a greater surface area for the mechano-sensory system and these elevated scales will have significantly higher numbers of superficial neuromasts than both adjacent non-lateral line scales and also the non-elevated lateral-line scales N. sabinae. This study will represent the first to investigate the mechano-sensory system of the body in multiple members of North American cyprinid genus Notropis. The results may have broader implications for understanding the phylogenetic relationships of Notropis through the study of a morphological character system that is well known to exhibit phylogenetically informative patterns. The three species of Notropis that I have chosen to study, though potentially unrelated, are ecologically different (including both pelagic and benthic species) and the differences in the abundance and distribution of superficial neuromasts that I expect to document may offer insight into the link between anatomical diversity in the mechano-sensory system and ecology/behavior

More evidence that less is better: Sub-optimal choice in dogs

The less-is-better effect is a preference for the lesser of two alternatives sometimes observed when they are evaluated separately. For example, a dinner service of 24 intact pieces might be judged to be more valuable than a 40-piece dinner service containing nine broken pieces. Pattison and Zentall (Animal Cognition, 17: 1019-1022, 2014) reported similar sub-optimal choice behavior in dogs using a simultaneous choice procedure. Given a choice between a single high-value food item (cheese) or an equivalent high-value item plus a lower-value food item (carrot), their dogs chose the individual item. In a subsequent test, the dogs preferred two high-value items to a single high-value item, suggesting that avoidance of multiple items did not cause the sub-optimal choice behavior. In two experiments, we replicated Pattison and Zentall’s procedure while including additional controls. In Experiment 1, habituation of neophobia for multiple items was controlled for by intermixing the two types of test trial within a single experimental session. In Experiment 2, we controlled for avoidance of heterogeneous rewards by including test trials in which a choice was offered between the combination of items and a single low-value item. In both experiments we observed sub-optimal choice behavior which could not be explained by either of these putative mechanisms. Our results, as well as those of Pattison and Zentall, are consistent with the suggestion that dogs’ assessment of the total value of multiple items is based, at least partly, on their average quality

TISSUE DECELLULARIZATION METHODS

Provided herein are methods of producing an acellular tissue product wherein the method can include the step of inducing apoptosis and washing the tissue after induction of apoptosis with a tonic solution. Also provided herein are acellular tissue products produced by the methods provided herein and methods of administering the acellular tissue products to a subject in need thereof

How to Use Common Technologies to Minimize Perceptual Biases When Grading Essays: A Five-Step Process

Evaluation of student performance is an important component of higher education course work and a major dimension of Ignatian pedagogy. However, the process of grading essay exams (a popular assessment method in both the liberal arts and technical programs) naturally brings the threat of several perceptual biases that harm grading validity and consistency. Thus, we sought a method to collect and organize essay tests to minimize identification bias (make student authors anonymous to the grader) and randomize grading order to minimize systematic error (related to always grading the same students first or last). Specifically, in this paper, we describe a step-by-step innovative approach that uses multiple common computer technologies (NetSupport School, Word, DOS, and Excel) to prepare, administer, and grade essay examinations submitted by students. Within the Appendix, we describe the steps and how to use these common tools, but within the paper, we offer general guidelines to apply our methods using whatever software or technologies schools are currently using. The discussion section presents limitations to our described method, offers ideas of modifications that may meet the same goals, and recommends future research directions

Early recognition of multiple sclerosis using natural language processing of the electronic health record

Background Diagnostic accuracy might be improved by algorithms that searched patients’ clinical notes in the electronic health record (EHR) for signs and symptoms of diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The focus this study was to determine if patients with MS could be identified from their clinical notes prior to the initial recognition by their healthcare providers. Methods An MS-enriched cohort of patients with well-established MS (n = 165) and controls (n = 545), was generated from the adult outpatient clinic. A random sample cohort was generated from randomly selected patients (n = 2289) from the same adult outpatient clinic, some of whom had MS (n = 16). Patients’ notes were extracted from the data warehouse and signs and symptoms mapped to UMLS terms using MedLEE. Approximately 1000 MS-related terms occurred significantly more frequently in MS patients’ notes than controls’. Synonymous terms were manually clustered into 50 buckets and used as classification features. Patients were classified as MS or not using Naïve Bayes classification. Results Classification of patients known to have MS using notes of the MS-enriched cohort entered after the initial ICD9[MS] code yielded an ROC AUC, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.90 [0.87-0.93], 0.75[0.66-0.82], and 0.91 [0.87-0.93], respectively. Similar classification accuracy was achieved using the notes from the random sample cohort. Classification of patients not yet known to have MS using notes of the MS-enriched cohort entered before the initial ICD9[MS] documentation identified 40% [23–59%] as having MS. Manual review of the EHR of 45 patients of the random sample cohort classified as having MS but lacking an ICD9[MS] code identified four who might have unrecognized MS. Conclusions Diagnostic accuracy might be improved by mining patients’ clinical notes for signs and symptoms of specific diseases using NLP. Using this approach, we identified patients with MS early in the course of their disease which could potentially shorten the time to diagnosis. This approach could also be applied to other diseases often missed by primary care providers such as cancer. Whether implementing computerized diagnostic support ultimately shortens the time from earliest symptoms to formal recognition of the disease remains to be seen

Solar-Powered Exploration of the Venus Atmosphere

The objective of this study was to design a solar powered, unmanned aircraft to orbit in the upper Venus atmosphere and search for signs of alien life. Topics of flight conditions, signs of life, basic mission plan, source of power, design process, instrumentation, and final designs are covered. Solar energy is ideal for this type of mission because it is the only reliable and abundant energy source accessible for long term space travel. The target altitude, being 60 to 70 km, has winds of up to 95 m/s. The aircraft will need to remain stable under such conditions. Due to the high winds that the aircraft must overcome, the mission may be limited to 3 days on exclusively solar power. Other methods are explored to prolong the longevity of the mission

An Sp185/333 gene cluster from the purple sea urchin and putative microsatellite-mediated gene diversification

Abstract Background The immune system of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, is complex and sophisticated. An important component of sea urchin immunity is the Sp185/333 gene family, which is significantly upregulated in immunologically challenged animals. The Sp185/333 genes are less than 2 kb with two exons and are members of a large diverse family composed of greater than 40 genes. The S. purpuratus genome assembly, however, contains only six Sp185/333 genes. This underrepresentation could be due to the difficulties that large gene families present in shotgun assembly, where multiple similar genes can be collapsed into a single consensus gene. Results To understand the genomic organization of the Sp185/333 gene family, a BAC insert containing Sp185/333 genes was assembled, with careful attention to avoiding artifacts resulting from collapse or artificial duplication/expansion of very similar genes. Twelve candidate BAC assemblies were generated with varying parameters and the optimal assembly was identified by PCR, restriction digests, and subclone sequencing. The validated assembly contained six Sp185/333 genes that were clustered in a 34 kb region at one end of the BAC with five of the six genes tightly clustered within 20 kb. The Sp185/333 genes in this cluster were no more similar to each other than to previously sequenced Sp185/333 genes isolated from three different animals. This was unexpected given their proximity and putative effects of gene homogenization in closely linked, similar genes. All six genes displayed significant similarity including both 5' and 3' flanking regions, which were bounded by microsatellites. Three of the Sp185/333 genes and their flanking regions were tandemly duplicated such that each repeated segment consisted of a gene plus 0.7 kb 5' and 2.4 kb 3' of the gene (4.5 kb total). Both edges of the segmental duplications were bounded by different microsatellites. Conclusions The high sequence similarity of the Sp185/333 genes and flanking regions, suggests that the microsatellites may promote genomic instability and are involved with gene duplication and/or gene conversion and the extraordinary sequence diversity of this family

Patients educating health care providers on Lynch syndrome

Objective: Lynch syndrome (LS) patients are at an elevated risk for early-onset cancers, including endometrial and colorectal (CRC). Prior research has shown a deficit in provider knowledge of LS, which may affect patient satisfaction and adherence to recommended screening and surveillance regimens. Studies suggest patients with LS may educate providers perceived as lacking LS knowledge; however, little is known about these interactions. The goal of this study is to assess patient-reported outcomes from clinical interactions where LS patients educate their providers. Methods: Participants (n=55) were asked to complete an in-depth telephone interview. Results: Out of 55 participants, approximately two-thirds (n=37) reported engaging in educational interactions. Participants reported feeling satisfied with the provider response in over half of the reported educational interactions (n=24). Participants reported changes in their patient-provider relationship ranging from improvements in their relationship to termination of services. Conclusion: Patients with LS report educating providers on their diagnosis as well as their screening and surveillance requirements. Patient-reported outcomes of these educational interactions vary based on the provider’s response to the interaction. Providers should be open and receptive to these educational interactions and follow-up on the discussion to improve patient satisfaction

Flight Operations Analysis Tool

Flight Operations Analysis Tool (FLOAT) is a computer program that partly automates the process of assessing the benefits of planning spacecraft missions to incorporate various combinations of launch vehicles and payloads. Designed primarily for use by an experienced systems engineer, FLOAT makes it possible to perform a preliminary analysis of trade-offs and costs of a proposed mission in days, whereas previously, such an analysis typically lasted months. FLOAT surveys a variety of prior missions by querying data from authoritative NASA sources pertaining to 20 to 30 mission and interface parameters that define space missions. FLOAT provides automated, flexible means for comparing the parameters to determine compatibility or the lack thereof among payloads, spacecraft, and launch vehicles, and for displaying the results of such comparisons. Sparseness, typical of the data available for analysis, does not confound this software. FLOAT effects an iterative process that identifies modifications of parameters that could render compatible an otherwise incompatible mission set

The Global academic research organization network: Data sharing to cure diseases and enable learning health systems.

Introduction:Global data sharing is essential. This is the premise of the Academic Research Organization (ARO) Council, which was initiated in Japan in 2013 and has since been expanding throughout Asia and into Europe and the United States. The volume of data is growing exponentially, providing not only challenges but also the clear opportunity to understand and treat diseases in ways not previously considered. Harnessing the knowledge within the data in a successful way can provide researchers and clinicians with new ideas for therapies while avoiding repeats of failed experiments. This knowledge transfer from research into clinical care is at the heart of a learning health system. Methods:The ARO Council wishes to form a worldwide complementary system for the benefit of all patients and investigators, catalyzing more efficient and innovative medical research processes. Thus, they have organized Global ARO Network Workshops to bring interested parties together, focusing on the aspects necessary to make such a global effort successful. One such workshop was held in Austin, Texas, in November 2017. Representatives from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States reported on their efforts to encourage data sharing and to use research to inform care through learning health systems. Results:This experience report summarizes presentations and discussions at the Global ARO Network Workshop held in November 2017 in Austin, TX, with representatives from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe, and the United States. Themes and recommendations to progress their efforts are explored. Standardization and harmonization are at the heart of these discussions to enable data sharing. In addition, the transformation of clinical research processes through disruptive innovation, while ensuring integrity and ethics, will be key to achieving the ARO Council goal to overcome diseases such that people not only live longer but also are healthier and happier as they age. Conclusions:The achievement of global learning health systems will require further exploration, consensus-building, funding aligned with incentives for data sharing, standardization, harmonization, and actions that support global interests for the benefit of patients