Making Sense of Nonprofit Collaborations

To better understand the use and success of collaborations, The Bridgespan Group, in collaboration with The Lodestar Foundation, surveyed 237 nonprofit CEOs and 101 foundation officers in 2014 on their participation in four common forms of formal collaboration: associations (including coalitions and community collaboratives), joint programs, shared support functions, and mergers (including subsidiary relationships). The survey uncovered details about their participation, as well as the barriers that block results. This report explores the findings in detail, sharing positive trends in collaboration as well as the barriers that keep nonprofits and funders from working more effectively to realize the promise of collaborations

Innovating to Help the Students of FMHC Transition Into the Real World

We appreciate your interest in our team, and all of the work we put into creating a solution for the future leaders of the Frederik Meijer Honors College. Over the span of four months, we conducted hours of research, interviews, team collaboration, thinking critically, prototyping, and designing. Through this portfolio, an overview will be provided of how we developed our final innovation to assist students of the Frederik Meijer Honors College to comfortably transition to life after Grand Valley

What paint can tell us: A fractal analysis of neurological changes in seven artists

Objective: The notion that artistic capability increases with dementia is both novel and largely unsupported by available literature. Recent research has suggested an emergence of artistic capabilities to be a by-product of involuntary behaviour seen with dementia, as opposed to a progression in original thinking (de Souza, et al., 2010). A far more complementary explanation comes from Hannemann (2006), who suggests that art offers an outlet for dementia patients to refine and sharpen their cognitive abilities. As dementia severely impedes linguistic skills, non-verbal therapeutic methods such as painting can permit dementia patients to express themselves in a way not possible verbally. Fractal analysis has been used to determine the authenticity of major works of art. Taylor et al., (1999) found that through a fractal analysis of Jackson Pollock’s paintings it was possible to distinguish authentic works from a large collection of fakes, demonstrating that when artists paint they instill within their work their own pattern of unique fractal behaviour. Can age-indexed variations in the fractal dimension of the works of artists anticipate specific cognitive deteriorations? Method: To answer this question we analysed age-related variations in the fractal dimension of a large corpus of digital images (n⫽2092) of work created by seven notable artists who experienced both normal ageing and neurodegenerative disorders. Results: The results of our analysis showed that patterns of change in the fractal dimension of the paintings differentiated artists who suffered neurological deterioration from those of normal aging controls. Conclusions: These findings are of importance for two reasons. Our work adds to studies that demonstrate that fractal analysis has the potential to determine the provenance of paintings. Secondly, our work suggests that may be possible to identify a-typical changes in the structure of an artist’s work; changes that may be early indicators of the onset of neurological deterioration

Mutations in alpha-B-crystallin cause autosomal dominant axonal Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease with congenital cataracts

Background and purpose: Mutations in the alpha-B-crystallin (CRYAB) gene have initially been associated with myofibrillar myopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and cataracts. For the first time, peripheral neuropathy is reported here as a novel phenotype associated with CRYAB. // Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed in two unrelated families with genetically unsolved axonal Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT2), assessing clinical, neurophysiological and radiological features. // Results: The pathogenic CRYAB variant c.358A>G;p.Arg120Gly was segregated in all affected patients from two unrelated families. The disease presented as late onset CMT2 (onset over 40 years) with distal sensory and motor impairment and congenital cataracts. Muscle involvement was probably associated in cases showing mild axial and diaphragmatic weakness. In all cases, nerve conduction studies demonstrated the presence of an axonal sensorimotor neuropathy along with chronic neurogenic changes on needle examination. // Discussion: In cases with late onset autosomal dominant CMT2 and congenital cataracts, it is recommended that CRYAB is considered for genetic testing. The identification of CRYAB mutations causing CMT2 further supports a continuous spectrum of expressivity, from myopathic to neuropathic and mixed forms, of a growing number of genes involved in protein degradation and chaperone-assisted autophagy

In Silico Metabolic Model and Protein Expression of Haemophilus influenzae Strain Rd KW20 in Rich Medium

The intermediary metabolism of Haemophilus influenzae strain Rd KW20 was studied by a combination of protein expression analysis using a recently developed direct proteomics approach, mutational analysis, and mathematical modeling. Special emphasis was placed on carbon utilization, sugar fermentation, TCA cycle, and electron transport of H. influenzae cells grown microaerobically and anaerobically in a rich medium. The data indicate that several H. influenzae metabolic proteins similar to Escherichia coli proteins, known to be regulated by low concentrations of oxygen, were well expressed in both growth conditions in H. influenzae. An in silico model of the H. influenzae metabolic network was used to study the effects of selective deletion of certain enzymatic steps. This allowed us to define proteins predicted to be essential or non-essential for cell growth and to address numerous unresolved questions about intermediary metabolism of H. influenzae. Comparison of data from in vivo protein expression with the protein list associated with a genome-scale metabolic model showed significant coverage of the known metabolic proteome. This study demonstrates the significance of an integrated approach to the characterization of H. influenzae metabolism.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63406/1/153623104773547471.pd

SocIoTal - The development and architecture of a social IoT framework

In this paper the development and architecture of the SocIoTal platform is presented. SocIoTal is a European FP7 project which aims to create a socially-aware citizen-centric Internet of Things infrastructure. The aim of the project is to put trust, user-control and transparency at the heart of the system in order to gain the confidence of everyday users and developers. By providing adequate tools and mechanisms that simplify complexity and lower the barriers of entry, it will encourage citizen participation in the Internet of Things. This adds a novel and rich dimension to the emerging IoT ecosystem, providing a wealth of opportunities for the creation of new services and applications. These services and applications will be able to address the needs of society therefore improving the quality of life in cities and communities. In addition to technological innovation, the SocIoTal project sought to innovate the way in which users and developers interact and shape the direction of the project. The project worked on new formats in obtaining data, information and knowledge. The first step consisted of gaining input, feedback and information on IoT as a reality in business. This led to a validated iterative methodology which formed part of the SocIoTal toolkit.This work was supported by the SocIoTal project under grant agreement No 609112

Restoration of disk height through non-surgical spinal decompression is associated with decreased discogenic low back pain: a retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Because previous studies have suggested that motorized non-surgical spinal decompression can reduce chronic low back pain (LBP) due to disc degeneration (discogenic low back pain) and disc herniation, it has accordingly been hypothesized that the reduction of pressure on affected discs will facilitate their regeneration. The goal of this study was to determine if changes in LBP, as measured on a verbal rating scale, before and after a 6-week treatment period with non-surgical spinal decompression, correlate with changes in lumbar disc height, as measured on computed tomography (CT) scans.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective cohort study of adults with chronic LBP attributed to disc herniation and/or discogenic LBP who underwent a 6-week treatment protocol of motorized non-surgical spinal decompression via the DRX9000 with CT scans before and after treatment. The main outcomes were changes in pain as measured on a verbal rating scale from 0 to 10 during a flexion-extension range of motion evaluation and changes in disc height as measured on CT scans. Paired t-test or linear regression was used as appropriate with p < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 30 patients with lumbar disc herniation with an average age of 65 years, body mass index of 29 kg/m², 21 females and 9 males, and an average duration of LBP of 12.5 weeks. During treatment, low back pain decreased from 6.2 (SD 2.2) to 1.6 (2.3, p < 0.001) and disc height increased from 7.5 (1.7) mm to 8.8 (1.7) mm (p < 0.001). Increase in disc height and reduction in pain were significantly correlated (r = 0.36, p = 0.044).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Non-surgical spinal decompression was associated with a reduction in pain and an increase in disc height. The correlation of these variables suggests that pain reduction may be mediated, at least in part, through a restoration of disc height. A randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm these promising results.</p> <p>Clinical trial registration number</p> <p>NCT00828880</p

Publisher Correction: Nitrate reduction capacity of the oral microbiota is impaired in periodontitis: potential implications for systemic nitric oxide availability

No abstract available